Saturday is looming as a huge day for Ballarat Football League side Melton South.
With club legend Matthew Collins set to break the Panthers all-time games record, Melton South is pulling out all the stops to make sure it is a memorable occasion.
The Panthers will welcome back superstar full-forward Mathew Sutton, who will be returning after retiring last year.
Sutton will run out alongside Collins in the club’s reserves side against Sebastopol.
“With our twos not being the strongest, the club was looking for a few blokes to help them out and hopefully we can put a good side on the park,” Sutton said.
“We [Sutton and Collins] played a couple of senior games together early on in the piece.
“He [Collins] is a great club stalwart. He does everything right. He gets the boys together and is the heart and soul of the place. He is a really good bloke and thoroughly deserves it.”
Saturday’s match will be Collins’ 371st appearance for Melton South and will see him overtake previous games record holder Tom Weaver.
For Sutton, at this stage the comeback is a once off.
As well as his incredible playing career, Sutton also coached the Panthers in 2013 and 2014.
He says he is rapt to see the path the club has taken under his replacement Mark Pedersen.
“They are moving in the right direction which is great,” he said.
“Mark is doing a great job with them. They just need to take that short-term pain for long-term gain. They just need to go through that rebuild stage.”
The Melton South and Sebastopol reserves clash with start at 11.55am on Saturday with the seniors match to follow.
