Matthew Dent

It seemed that while growing up in Coonalpyn, young Matthew Dent spent every waking moment kicking a football on the Coonalpyn oval. If not at the oval, he could be found having a kick to kick with good mate Darryl Lacey in the driveway of the local service station.

Matthew began his football for Border Downs in 1980 playing Modified Rules on Saturday mornings. He progressed through the grades, under 13s, under 15 and under 17s before making his A grade debut for Border Downs in 1990. Matthew was picked up by the Sturt Football Club to play under 19s in 1991 but was quickly elevated to reserves and eventually to A grade all in his first season. Matthew had played 70 games for Sturt when Fitzroy drafted him in 1993.

Matthew played three seasons with Fitzroy realising 47 games when the Brisbane/Fitzroy merger took place. Matthew opted to go back in the draft rather than relocate to Brisbane and was taken by the Western Bulldogs. He played 67 games for the Bulldogs over four years when he was traded to Hawthorn in 2001.

Matthew struggled with injuries at Hawthorn, and only managed 8 games. Despite playing in a premiership with Hawthorn affiliate club Box Hill, Matthew chose to come home to Sturt. This proved to be a wise move as he played in Sturt’s 2002 premiership team. Matthew battled with injuries again 2003 and retired from league football. He came home to Border Downs to finish the season playing just three games for them. In 2004, Matthew was appointed coach of Edwardstown and led them for two seasons.

After a year off Matthew took on the job of coaching Tailem Bend and coached them for three seasons. In 2011 Matthew was given the A grade coaching role at Happy Valley. Matthew won his first premiership as a senior coach with Happy Valley in 2012. This success led to him being named as an assistant coach for the South Australian Country team in 2013. Matthew is currently coaching Colonel Light Gardens, a position he has held since 2015.