Injury-free Matt Ling keeps fingers crossed with AFL list spots at premium
Every person delisted from an AFL club feels disappointment but former Sydney defender Matt Ling felt a deep sense of frustration too as his body has finally shaken free of the injuries that denied him from training and playing consistently in all but the past 12 months.
Ling understands and accepts Sydney’s decision to cut him without any rancour, but he hopes to get another crack at an AFL club where he can show the speed and dynamic left foot that saw the Swans use their first round pick in the 2017 national draft to fill a need for run out of defence.
And he wants to shake off the perception that he is forever injured, an overhang from his first two years that were derailed by a persistent foot injury that is, to Ling, ancient history.
Matthew Ling and Lance Franklin at training this week.
That injury kept him sidelined for most of 2018 as he required an osteotomy - surgeons basically reconstructed his big toe to give it more flexibility - which stopped him from being able to run for six months. That interrupted the next year’s pre-season then a plantaris tendon injury meant more time in rehab.
It was a tough initiation for the youngster who grew up in Geelong, but his teammates warmed to Ling’s upbeat nature with Sydney veteran Dane Rampe praising him at the club’s 2019 jumper presentation.
“The energy and excitement with which he bounces into the club each and every day despite repeated setbacks shows a resilience I would not have been capable of at his age,†Rampe said.
Ling made his AFL debut in round eight 2020, playing three games on the trot before going back to scratch matches, an unwanted COVID feature, alongside many other AFL-listed players trying to impress in a series of half-baked practice matches.
But with a taste and a chance to complete a full pre-season ahead of 2021 he hit the season running playing as a medical sub in round two before losing his spot as the Swans went on an early season rampage with selection tight.
At training on the morning before the team flew out of Sydney to escape being locked down Ling rolled his ankle competing for a ground ball and in a case of bad luck combined with bad timing was sidelined.
Matthew Ling not long after he was drafted.Credit:Getty Images
He returned to play scratch matches injury free late in the season as the Swans charged into the finals with a young, dynamic list.
“It gets so frustrating because you want to get back to your best straight away, but you have got to accept you have missed eight weeks,†Ling told The Age.
Now he has his fingers crossed he can find his way on to an AFL list and if not, he’ll play state league football, his love for the game he fostered on a small ground in the shadows of Kardinia Park undiminished.
After a couple of weeks off, the 22-year-old has been back following the Swans’ program to be ready for whatever lies ahead, fresh, fit and wiser about what football clubs require to succeed.
“I’m running fine and everything is going really smoothly,†Ling said.
Ling is among a large group of former players hoping for a spot on an AFL list in 2022 either as a delisted free agent (DFA), a rookie or via the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP).
List spots are tight and some clubs want to keep a spot free for the SSP with the delisted free agency period continuing this week after four players, Jarrod Brander (GWS), Tom Campbell (St Kilda), Sam Skinner (Port Adelaide) and Tyson Stengle (Geelong) were recruited as DFAs this week.
Waiting in the wingsTrent Dumont 26 (North Melbourne 113 games)
The mystery of this year’s post-season as to why no club has picked him up yet. He was playing superb football two years ago before a calf injury put him behind the eight-ball in 2021.
Jack Lonie 25 (St Kilda 87 games)
Clever small forward with good character who suffered from the Saints’ surplus in that area. Left footer who has shown he can play at the level.
Levi Casboult 31 (Carlton 154 games)
Gold Coast likely to select him as a rookie to add depth to their big man stocks. Great pair of hands.
Charlie Constable 22 (Geelong 12 games)
A victim of trends as clubs reduce the number of big bodied midfielders who can’t play elsewhere. A ball magnet in the Michael Barlow mould.
Ollie Hanrahan 23 (Hawthorn 29 games)
Surprise delisting can play either in the midfield or forward.
Jay Lockhart 25 (Melbourne 22 games)
Versatile player who could not get a look in as Melbourne headed to a flag after being injured in the pre-season.
Patrick Naish 22 (Richmond 9 games)
Speedster at the Tigers when it was hard to get a game. A bubbly character desperate for a second chance.
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