The Tiger who went from Happy Valley to the MCG in three monthsPeter Ryan
The Age
July 25, 2023On April 15, Richmond’s Matt Coulthard pulled on a yellow and black jumper to play with Happy Valley at Bice Oval, Christies Beach in the Southern League in South Australia.
Just three months later, mid-season draft magic occurred as he was named as the sub for Richmond against Hawthorn.
On Saturday afternoon, the 22-year-old ran along the MCG wing, took two bounces and hit his Tigers’ teammate Dustin Martin on the chest with his first kick before following up to receive the handball and land the ball in Trent Cotchin’s hands.
News of Coulthard’s impact travelled quickly to Happy Valley’s coach Guy Ridgway, who was standing on the boundary line 725 kilometres away from the ’G.
“He’s a fantastic kid. He has really grabbed hold of an opportunity and is running with it. A few of the guys were giving me updates on what was happening,” Ridgway said.
Coulthard’s rapid elevation from local football to being in the circle singing Richmond’s theme song happened slowly.
Word had filtered through to Richmond early in 2022 that there was a player at Port Noarlunga too good to be playing SA’s Southern League. His name was Matt Coulthard, a player the Tigers had seen as a junior with South Adelaide as he bounced between there and Port Noarlunga where he played close to 100 club games, but not much since.
But before the Tigers could watch him he hurt his ankle, his season ending after just three games.
By the first round of 2023, Coulthard was at Glenelg, again in yellow and black, playing reserves against Sturt.
By then the Tigers well and truly had their eye on him.
He gained permission to return to the Southern League for a kick with Happy Valley as it was a Gather Round weekend, and he had missed the previous week through suspension.
“He was an excitement machine. He sat on a couple of shoulders and was a class above. It was good for him to come out and play and the boys saw him in action,” Ridgway said.
Back with Glenelg he impressed, but he needed to play three state league games to be eligible for the mid-season draft. Another bye for a state game made it tight, but he just squeezed in when he kicked four goals on the weekend before the Tigers used pick four of the mid-season draft to add him to the list.
It was his third debut for a different club this season – all with yellow and black jumpers, all rapt at the chance the speedster has taken, working through the grades from local football to the MCG in one season.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-tiger-who-went-from-happy-valley-to-the-mcg-in-three-months-20230725-p5dr1d.html
