Mathew Stokes
Personal information
Full name	Mathew Stokes
Birth	22 November 1984 (1984-11-22) (age 25)
Place of birth	Northern Territory, Australia
Recruited from	Woodville-West Torrens (SANFL)
Draft	2005: #61 (Geelong)
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	80 kg (12 st 8 lb)
Playing Career
Position(s)	Half-forward
Club	Geelong
Number	27
Club
Years	Team	Pld	G
2006–	Geelong	71	108
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	G
2008	Dream Team	1	1

Mathew Stokes (born 22 November 1984) is an Indigenous Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

[edit] Early life

Mathew Stokes grew up in Darwin, Australia, with his parents John and Jennifer, and three sisters Jaylene, Anne-Maree and Amy.^[1] Stokes has Indigenous Australian heritage, and his ancestry can be traced to the Larrakia.^[2] His father was a life member of the Palmerston Magpies, having played 148 games for them in the Northern Territory Football League.^[1] Growing up, Stokes played basketball, cricket and rugby league,^[1] but age restrictions limited his involvement in AFL until he was 11-years old.^[1] Stokes' main sporting passion was for basketball, where he played at every junior level growing up and won an under-14s best and fairest award whilst still only 7 years of age.^[1] When he was finally eligible to play football as an under-14, Stokes forced his way into the Palmerston Magpies senior team^[1] at only 14 years of age.^[3] In 2002, he was a member of Palmerston's premiership-winning side,^[1] and it was then that he began to switch his focus from basketball to football.^[1]Stokes' achievements in the local junior leagues saw him selected to represent Australia in the under-17's national team,^[3] alongside future AFL players Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Nick Dal Santo.

Stokes was overlooked in the 2002 AFL Draft though, and moved to Adelaide to begin playing in the SANFL for Woodville-West Torrens.^[3] Taking up a part-time job as a zookeeper off the field,^[3] Stokes continued to establish himself in the SANFL over the next three years. His persistence paid off when he was selected with the 61st pick in the 2005 AFL Draft by the Geelong Football Club.^[3]

[edit] Career

[edit] 2006

It wasn't until his 7th game, making his mark against Port Adelaide in Round 15, 2006, that he kicked two final-term goals to lift Geelong's finals chances, one of which he marked superbly and kicked truly from 40m out under enormous pressure. For the rest of the year Stokes was inconsistent and as a result was in and out of the team.

In 2006, Stokes played in Geelong's VFL Grand Final side, losing to the Sandringham Zebras.

[edit] 2007

Stokes has since cemented his spot in Geelong's best 22. His best game in the 2007 home-and-away season was against Fremantle, in round 17, when he kicked a career best 5 goals. He was a member of Geelong's 2007 AFL Premiership side, overcoming a dislocated kneecap in the first quarter to make a solid contribution to the team's record 119 point win over Port Adelaide.

[edit] 2008

Stokes escaped severe head injuries in a 2008 pre-season practice match against the Brisbane Lions,^[4] when in the last quarter he suffered a blow to the head after being tackled by Brisbane midfielder Albert Proud.^[4] He was declared OK after being stretchered from the ground, and despite having a sore head, didn't need to be taken to hospital.^[4]

Stokes was reported in Geelong's Round 7 clash against the Brisbane Lions, after striking Brisbane's Michael Rischitelli in the match's first quarter.^[5] Stokes went on to garner two goals and 12 disposals for the game.^[6] At the AFL Tribunal, he accepted a one match suspension for the incident,^[5] but due to his poor tribunal record, which includes a four match suspension for an incident in the 2007 pre-season, his ban could not be reduced with an early plea.^[5] Stokes went on to play 22 games for 2008 including the loss in the 2008 AFL Grand Final against Hawthorn. He had a career high 31 disps (22 kicks, 9 handballs, 13 marks and 2 goals) in the round 2, 99 point win against Essendon.

[edit] 2009

Stokes played 19 games in total for 2008, including the second qualifying final against the Western Bulldogs. He withdrew from the preliminary final against Collingwood due to groin soreness, and as a result of Geelong winning the preliminary final by a large margin and all players performing well, he could not force his selection back into the team for the grand final against Saint Kilda. Stokes later revealed that the decision of withdrawing from the preliminary final was due to playing on with injury in 2008 and letting the team down by doing so, and said that "Someone had to miss out and the boys played well last week, so I didn't really expect to come back in" ; "You move on, that's life and there's nothing I can do about it now. I just have to support the boys; "I've moved on from the fact I'm not playing and I've dealt with it and I'm quite happy with the decision because I knew the consequences of me not playing in the prelim final."

His best games of 2009 came against Brisbane in round 5 (13 kicks, 11 handballs, 4 marks and 3 goals); Sydney in round 7 (13 kicks, 8 handballs, 6 marks, 6 tackles and 3 goals) and against Adelaide in round 4 (12 kicks, 11 handballs, 6 marks, 4 tackles and 2 goals). He kicked a season high 4 goals against the Western Bulldogs in round 9. Stokes was ranked 18th in the AFL for goal assists per game in 2009.

[edit] Statistics

Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2009 season.^[7][8] Averages are in brackets.^[8]

[edit] Honours and achievements

Team:

• AFL Premiership (Geelong): 2007
• AFL McClelland Trophy (Geelong): 2007, 2008
• AFL NAB Cup (Geelong): 2009
• NTFL Premiership (Palmerston): 2001

Individual:

• AFL:
  • Dream Team representative honours in the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match: 2008

• Woodville-West Torrens Football Club (SANFL):
  • Most improved award: 2003

• Geelong Football club:
  • Geelong Club Champion: 2009

• Other achievements:
  • Northern Territory under-18 representative honours: 2000–2002
  • Australian international rules football team under-17 representative honours: 2001
  • Indigenous All-Stars representative honours: 2007, 2009

[edit] Personal life

Stokes interests outside of football include feral pig shooting, and fishing.^[9] He counts Nathan Buckley of Collingwood, as his football hero,^[9] and American basketball player, Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, as his overall sporting hero.^[9]

Growing up, Stokes was close friends with other future AFL players, including Trent Hentschel, Aaron Davey and Alwyn Davey.^[3] Stokes also grew up supporting the Collingwood Football Club.^[9] Whilst playing in the SANFL, Stokes worked part-time as a zookeeper, and hopes to return to the profession after his football career.^[1]

On February 3, 2010, Stokes was arrested on charges of possession and trafficking of cocaine.^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mathew Stokes profile on the Official AFL Website of the Geelong Football Club
• Mathew Stokes's statistics from AFL Tables