Matthew Armstrong

Matthew Armstrong

Personal information
Birth	1 March 1967
Height and weight	177 cm / 76 kg
Playing career¹
Team(s)	Fitzroy (1987-94) 132 games, 71 goals North Melbourne (1995-96) 43 games, 18 goals Total - 175 Games, 89 Goals
¹ Statistics to end of 1996 season

Matthew Armstrong (born 1 March 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy and North Melbourne in the VFL/AFL. He was a regular interstate representative for his home state of Tasmania.

Armstrong played in many positions, as an on baller, half back, centre or wingman. He was with Fitzroy from 1987 to 1994 and played 132 games. In 1995 he moved to North Melbourne and was the season's second highest disposal getter for the club. Despite missing just five games in the 1996 home and away season he was omitted from the side which defeated Sydney in the grand final.

He was sometimes involved in spectacular solo efforts to win games breaking out of the centre melee with a direct run at goal, but would only do so at the end of close games. Otherwise he was frequently unnoticed on the field, perhaps due to his relatively short stature or perhaps mainly to the blink-fast speed of his disposal of the ball, usually to great effect.

He seemed to show a singular strategic sense and his handspeed resulted in an unparalleled ability to break lines of defence and an uncanny number of plays involving or commencing with him resulted in scoring shots, sometimes several disposals later. This ability was recognized by teammates but often overlooked by coaches and selectors; testified to by Wayne Carey making special mention of the non-selected Matthew Armstrong in his 1996 Premiership Cup acceptance speech.

He later became coach of the Tasmanian Devils Football Club.

External links

• Matthew Armstrong's statistics from AFL Tables
• Fullpointsfooty profile

Persondata
Name	Armstrong, Matthew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 March 1967
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death