Mahoney is considering his Canberra options - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) - 16 Oct 1994 (original) (raw)

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Sun 16 Oct 1994 - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)
Page 15 - Mahoney is considering his Canberra options

' Matthew Mahoney, back in

Canberra after six seasons , in

Melbourne, will make a deci

sion in the next three weeks

whether to play in Canberra or

with Southport Sharks in 1995.

Mahoney, 25, is the son of Bill

and Leonie Mahoney, of Mawson.

Bill is an ACT Australian Football

League life member, former presid

ent and secretary, and former offi

cial with the old Manuka club.

Matthew, a 205cm ruckman,

played all his junior football with

Eastlake, entered first-grade in

1987 and had two seasons with the

Eagles before joining Australian

Football League club, Melbourne.

Matthew said yesterday that he

had been approached..by several

Canberra clubs and ..also, the

Queensland club coached , by, for

mer Sydney Swan,. .Mark. Brow

"I had an offer from Southport

Sharks and flew up a fortnight ago

for discussions," Matthew said.

"If I don't play there, I will be

looking, at a Canberra club and

playing another season at home.

"I have spoken to, several clubs

here and I would like to, get in

volved with a' developing club and

"I'd like to coach in a few years.

That will be a priority ,of mine and

hopefully it will become a reality

"I'll have to make a decision"on

a club in the next three weeks.

"It's goodito be around family

and friends' again but the Gold

Coast has great appeal with its

Mahoney had four seasons with

Melbourne, playing in about 60 re

serve-grade, games and eight in the

"I. captained the reserves one,

year and we played in three grand

finals only to lose to Brisbane

Bears, Carlton and North Mel

"I played in three overseas

games in Toronto, London and

Portland in Oregon and three suc

cessful Foster's Cup series between

"I got my share of knocks, with

three knee operations - including

one major one. But if I had to do

it all over again 1 would.

"1 injured my right knee in a

1991 Sydney game against Sydney

"At first, the docto'r"said"thet'e

was nothing wrong with it. But

when he had to dp,, the reconstruc

tion in 1992 he found a big tear in

the capsule at-, the back of'my

"They fixed that ^reconstruct

ing the anterior and posterior liga

ments and repaired ine tears.

"It was a'shocking*operation. 1

was in plaster for four weeks and

"The knee' feels really good now;

it's structurally strong in kicking

and running even though it makes

a few noises it did not make be

Mahoney parted company with

the Demons to play with Frank

ston Dolphins but when another

knee operation kept him down to

a handful of games in'his I'A sea

sons with them, he decided to re

'in my first practice game with

Frankston, I snapped the anterior

and posterior cruciate ligaments

and tore all the lateral ligaments.

"That's all been reconstructed

since and' I've been back in the

gym two sessions a day trying to

make it strong again, as well as

"It's all coming along pretty well

and I will be back playing again

"I'm back running and kicking

the footy and everything seems

back to where it was two years