AFL General Manager Football Operations Steve Hocking today announced that dual West Coast Eagles premiership player Peter Matera has been appointed to join the jury for the AFL Tribunal.
Matera, 50, began his football career with South Fremantle in the WAFL before he was drafted to the West Coast Eagles with the fourth selection in the 1989 National Draft.
Matera went on to play 253 games for the West Coast Eagles between 1990 - 2002, where he won two premierships and was awarded the Norm Smith Medal in 1992.
A five-time All Australian, Matera is regarded as one of the best wingmen in the history of the game. A member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a WAFC Hall of Fame inductee, Matera has also been named in the AFL Indigenous Team of the Century and the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century. He represented Western Australia on five occasions throughout his career.
A descendant of the Gnaala Karla Booja / Ballardong clan of the south west region of Western Australia, Matera becomes the first Aboriginal person to serve on the AFL Tribunal.
In 2015, Matera and his partner Suzy founded the Matera Foundation which creates pre-employment programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Western Australia. The Foundation has a strong focus on identifying and breaking down barriers that prevent employment and creating opportunities for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mr. Hocking said that Matera was an outstanding appointment, and that his skills and experience would add to the role of the Tribunal.
“I am extremely pleased that Peter has agreed to join the AFL Tribunal panel. A well-decorated player and successful business person, he brings a high level of experience to the game’s governing body,” Mr. Hocking said.
“This appointment is the result of a strategy to ensure we have more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in key decision making roles across the AFL industry and has been led by Tanya Hosch, the AFL General Manager for Inclusion and Social Policy.”
Matera joins Wayne Henwood, Jason Johnson, Stephen Jurica, Richard Loveridge, Stewart Loewe, David Neitz, David Pittman, Paul Williams and Shane Wakelin as former players on the AFL Tribunal, with three of the group to decide a player’s guilt or innocence at any Tribunal hearing.
Matera will officially join the AFL Tribunal jury from the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
PETER MATERA HONOURS:
253 games (218 goals) for the West Coast Eagles
5 x All Australian 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
Norm Smith Medallist 1992
2 x Premiership player 1992, 1994
West Coast Eagles Club Champion 1997
Indigenous Team of the Century 2005
Australian Football Hall of Fame Inductee 2006
VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century 2007
5 x Western Australia State Representative
AFL statement: Peter Matera appointed to the AFL Tribunal
Dual West Coast premiership player Peter Matera has joined the jury for the AFL Tribunal
