SEN host Garry Lyon doesn’t think Mattaes Phillipou gets enough credit for his first AFL season.
The No. 10 pick from the 2022 Draft played all 24 games in his first season and kicked 13 goals in a half-forward role.
While Phillipou’s first season no doubt gave fans plenty to be excited about for the future, Lyon thinks it was a particularly remarkable campaign given he was the youngest player in the competition throughout the entire 2023 campaign.
Born on December 27, Phillipou was only eligible to be picked up in his draft year by a few days and was 18 by the time his second pre-season began.
Given how much he’s already shown, Lyon is extremely excited about what the now 19-year-old can become and Tim Watson hopes he begins to be even more aggressive with ball in hand in 2024.
Lyon: “Matteas Phillipou, he was the youngest player in the comp last year.
“He was the youngest player taken in the draft, we go, ‘We’ve got to nurse these players, we’ve got to manage them, we’ve got to get them through, don’t overload them’.
“But he played every single game including a final.”
Watson: “It was an unbelievable performance.”
Lyon: “Every single game and he was the youngest player (in the competition).
“He was still 18 when his second pre-season started.”
Watson: “He's going to be a fine player. If you watched him play last year, and I know you did, there were many times - and he'll learn this and he may even display it this year – he could have taken the game on a little bit more, but he was reluctant to. He would give the ball off.
“The next part of his development is to recognise what's around him and then just take it on and explode or do something a little bit more.
“He was just very quick on giving the ball off, and you can understand that playing in that team and maybe under that type of coaching, but I hope Ross just allows this kid a little bit more of a rope so that he can display what he’s capable of being able to produce.”
Lyon: “Ross loves him. We all love him.”
Watson: “I bet he does, well he played him every week.”
Lyon: “He was the youngest player in the comp and played every single game.”
Phillipou and the Saints will begin their 2024 season with a Round 1 clash against Geelong at the GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, March 16.
