Matthew Collins may have become the first player to play 400 games for the Melton South Football Club on Saturday but he, like everyone else, was more excited to see the new-look senior side.
Collins, who is already the club’s games record holder, stepped out for the Panthers in their reserves win against Melton and then watched on as the Panthers seniors, led by star recruit Brendan Fevola, won their first match since 2015.
“I don’t know how I feel about playing 400 games,” Collins, known as ‘Zippy’, said before the game.
“I’m more excited for the upcoming season for the club.
“There was a lot of excitement when the club won the 1994 senior premiership, which was my first year out of under-18s. It was exciting around the finals as we knew something special could happen, but I’ve never seen a build-up to a season like this before.”
The first of Collins’ 400 games came in 1994, but he wasn’t able to break into the premiership side.
He said most of his games had come in the reserves, including the 2002 and 2005 premierships. He also led the league reserves goalkicking and won several club reserves best and fairest awards.
His involvement at the Panthers started well before 1994.
“It feels like I’ve been here forever,” he said.
“I’ve played at the club since I was five. I’m not sure how many games I’ve played overall, but it would be a big number.”
Collins said this year will be his last season pulling on the jumper – but he also said that when he broke the club’s games record of 370, held by Tommy Weaver, in 2015.
“We were battling for numbers a bit the last couple of years so I kept playing,” Collins said. “I never really thought about playing 400 games and I wasn’t going to play on this year.”
Collins finished last season with 399 games under his belt.
“Everyone said you can’t give it away just one game from 400. I decided if I was going to play one game I needed to do a pre season as I would have struggled to get a kick.
“[But] I wasn’t going to do a pre season for just one match.”
He has one main wish for the reserves this season.
“I would like to finish up at the club on a winning note. The last four seasons we haven’t had a good win-loss record.
“I’d like to win some more games this year.”
