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Neighbour Dave has featured in a few of my columns over the years. He is my sounding board for the daily issues that present themselves in both football and sport in general.
One of his long standing staples is a firm belief in opportunity. For Dave, the difference between an athletic career of fame and fortune or a life spent in the lower tiers occupying the pine, can sometimes be as simple as opportunity.
For every Pele, Messi or Ronaldo there are hundreds and thousands of footballers whose lives are far more mortgage and Mazdas than mansions and Mercedes. Players live in constant hope of being in that proverbial right place at precisely the right time.
Along the journey, there are windows of opportunity that present themselves. Identifying and grasping them is key and players’ careers are often decided on the whims of fate.
For some, injury, misfortune and flat out poor timing can destroy their dreams whilst others will grasp a moment with both hands and turn rocks to diamonds.
Matt Simon’s hat-trick against Central Coast United at Pluim Park last Wednesday was a perfect example of the role opportunity can play in football.
Matt Simon (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Now 32, Simon has well over two hundred A-League appearances to his name and still stands as the Central Coast Mariners’ leading goal scorer with 41. The Sydney-born striker has undoubtedly lost a yard or two of pace over the years but after three seasons with Sydney FC, he has found his way back to where it all started in 2006.
The cameo roles he played in the Graham Arnold juggernaut at Sydney looked to have cemented the belief that the sun was well and truly setting on his sometimes controversial career.
Often criticised for his enthusiastic defensive work that has chopped down many an opponent over the years, Simon built a reputation as a hatchet man in sky blue.
Sadly, the tall blonde who led the Mariners in the formative seasons of the A-League had become known as ‘Matt the axe’ and was often lampooned for his approach.
There was some truth in the moniker but in reality, Arnold was using him brilliantly. Somewhere inside the final thirty minutes, Simon would replace a tiring forward and his rather chaotic and manic entry to the game would often produce the desired result.
It was simple, primal stuff really. Send on a firebrand late to shake things up; get under a few skins and distract the opposition from their defensive duties. Defenders hated it, as Simon still had enough speed to make them accountable for even the longest and most unlikely of balls.
His time in the harbour City produced only five A-League goals from 67 matches, such was his limited and clearly defined role. Yet somewhere near what was to become the end of his journey, Simon managed to find the net once more.
It was an Asian Champions League match against the Kashima Antlers in March 2018, where we saw a brief flash of the veteran’s past and he broke a two-year goal scoring drought.
It should never be forgotten that Simon represented his country at both Olyroo and senior level. Younger A-League fans might find that hard to comprehend considering his role with Sydney, yet a striker’s instinct doesn’t fade, it just requires a club to have belief in it.
Despite appearing destined for NPL play and a potentially valuable educative and leadership role, his old stamping ground took something of a leap of faith.
Whilst most in A-League circles felt assured he had been cashiered as a top flight domestic footballer, opportunity knocked in the shape of the Central Coast Mariners.
Having watched Matt Simon for years, there is no doubt that he would have trained the house down in the pre-season and brought a tangible energy to the Mariners’ training track. His passion and enthusiasm are infectious.
Adrian Mierzejewski of Sydney trips over Matt Simon during the FFA Cup Final. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
What role Mike Mulvey has him destined to play this season is unclear. Mirroring Graham Arnold’s tactics is an option, especially considering the recent signings of Tommy Oar and Ross McCormack that add to the Central Coast’s attacking stocks.
However, perhaps Mulvey has something else planned for the Wizard of Woy Woy and his recent hat-trick could be just the beginning of a resurgence in the twilight of his career?
The quality of the opposition and the goals themselves should moderate any over-excitement at the achievement, however, for a striker it doesn’t matter.
Goals are goals and form is form.
Right now Matt Simon is in form and neighbour Dave has been proven correct once again; when people receive opportunities, they can do some pretty cool things.