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No one is exactly sure how many senior games of footy Brian Matheson has played, but most educated guesses puts the tally somewhere near 500 not out.
Earlier this year the 54-year-old racked up number 450 for the Bathurst Bushrangers. Those matches have all been officially etched into the annals of AFL Central West history, as has Matheson’s name into the league’s Hall of Fame.
But there were also two and a half seasons played in Condobolin before he moved to Bathurst in 1991, plus about a dozen representative games, and a similar amount more played at Masters level.
“I’m determined this is my last year; the body is failing on me big time,” Matheson said.
“But if you ask any of the guys at the footy club, they’ll tell you I’ve been saying that for the last 10 or 15 years.
“I would love to [keep playing]. The heart’s keen and the head’s keen but the body is not at all.
“If it wasn’t for painkillers I’d not be playing any more. I dose myself up with painkillers Friday night and Saturday morning, play on the weekend then suffer for the rest of the week.”
Matheson’s longevity in the game is a medical miracle.
Not because he’s still running around with teammates and opposition more than three decades his junior.
After landing awkwardly on an exposed sprinkler while playing a representative match in 1997, doctors told Matheson he would never walk properly again.
“I jumped up to spoil the ball, and when I landed I landed on a round sprinkler head on the footy ground, my foot just twisted,” Matheson said.
“If it wasn’t for the love of the game, particularly the love of the club, I wouldn’t be playing because of the pain I’m in.”
That love Matheson possesses for the Bushrangers continues to pulse through Bathurst..
He was the first president of the club, has held every role on its committee over the past three decades, and has coached from Auskick all the way through to seniors. Even now he coaches the women’s first grade team.
Matheson has also sat on the board of the AFL Central West, formerly as vice president and junior coordinator.
“That’s what the future’s about, if you don’t have the juniors coming through you struggle later down the track,” Matheson said.
But for now, his biggest focus is on winning his “lucky 13th” premiership for Bathurst.
“I was hoping last year, but we got beaten by one goal in the grand final so I hope this year we might go that step further and I can retire,” Matheson said.
“It’s pretty tough at 54 when you’re playing against sometimes 20-year-olds who are two or three inches taller. I’m only six feet tall, well I used to be, I’ve shrunk a bit.”