Snook’s actions speak louder than words

By PETER CORNWALL

He’s never been one to chase attention but Matthew Snook sure deserves it as he brings up his 200th game with the Tigers.

He’s also never been on the lookout for individual awards or honours. But he’s certainly – and deservedly – won his fair share of them.

While you hear plenty of footballers sprouting a team-first attitude, Snook actually lives and breathes it. So much so, he doesn’t like the idea of being in the limelight – even when he’s joining the 200 Club.

“I don’t want to be bigger than anyone else. It’s a team game and you’re not as good as you can be unless your team goes well, the players around you,” he said.

It’s fair to say Glenelg wouldn’t have been as good as it could be without Snook as it has become a SANFL powerhouse again over the past half-dozen seasons.

Snook agrees reaching 200 games is “a massive honour and achievement” but he says, “I’m probably not someone who really likes the limelight and the recognition – it’s always been a team game … I’ve always shied away from it”.

But, with the 32-year-old playing his 200th game at the Bay on Saturday against Norwood, Snook has earned the recognition. Modern-day SANFL greats often don’t get the credit they deserve because people too often rate the AFL the be-all-and-end-all of our great national game. But Snook is an all-time champion, no matter how you look at it.

Tigers legend and Australian Football Hall of Famer Peter Carey declared Snook the greatest Tigers footballer since the arrival of the Crows in 1991, when the SA football landscape changed so dramatically.

Great of Glenelg Laurie Rosewarne, a club vice-captain and general manager among countless roles over the past six decades, rates Snook in the top seven greatest Glenelg players in the 104-year history of the club. No. 1 is Carey and No. 2 Stephen Kernahan, so he’s among a pretty elite group.

Rosewarne loves the bloke, not just because he wears his old favourite No.3 guernsey, but because of the way he plays – 100 per cent effort and commitment at all times, enormous courage and a selfless team game – and the example he sets on and off the field.

The numbers show Snook belongs among the Tigers’ elite. He is the 27th Glenelg player to reach 200 games. He has won four best-and-fairest awards – only one Tiger, 1934 premiership hero Len Sallis, has won more, with five. He is one of only three to have won four, along with Colin Richens and Nick Chigwidden, while he’s also finished runner-up once and third three times. But it’s a team game and what Snook’s more proud of are his two Tigers league premierships. Only one player – Carey – has won more, with three. Snook is one of only 24 players to have won two.

He is one of only four Glenelg players to have won a Jack Oatey Medal for best-on-ground in a grand final (2019) – and he finished a close third in voting last year. Unlucky not to have won a Magarey Medal, as runner-up in 2020 and ’21, he is one of only six Glenelg players to twice finish in the top two. He won the Bob Shearman Medal, voted on by the league’s coaches, in 2020, becoming the third Tiger to win the award.

He has been honoured with selection in The Advertiser SANFL Team of the Year four times. Only seven Glenelg players have been picked in more teams.

Not bad for a bloke who won the Alan Stewart Medal for best-afield in the Tigers’ 2010 under-18 grand final win but, after making his league debut in 2011, was actually told in 2013 he could look for another club. As he fought to establish himself in league ranks he played 44 reserves games, winning the best and fairest and best team man awards in 2012 even though he played five league games that season. And he actually thought of moving away.

But anyone who knows Snook knows all about his resilience, his never-give-up attitude and whenever he’s been doubted in his career “it probably helps light a fire” that makes him all the more determined to prove himself. Not only did he endure the early doubters and thrive, he had to battle through tough times at the club – just four wins each season from 2013-15 and no finals for seven years. It’s made the success Snook’s enjoyed – and played a key role in – in 2019 and last year all the sweeter.

“You can’t go past the flags,” he said of his career highlights, “but probably the mateship as well … the camaraderie, I’ve got some of my best mates here and I’ve still got mates who have left and I am the silly one still hanging on, really”. How much longer he will ‘hang on’ is another thing. He is “probably leaning towards” this season bringing down the curtain on a remarkable career. But he has been close before. “I’ve said it the last five years, I reckon,” he says laughing.

But there’s another highlight. And it came right at the start of his league career. Playing league footy at the Bay with brother Shannon. Battling it out in the backyard with his older sibling might have helped fuel the fiercely competitive streak that has been his trademark.

“Growing up, playing against my brother and trying to beat him at a young age, I looked up to him and I wanted to be as good as he was and then, ending up playing with him in my career, that was probably the highlight apart from the flags, I reckon,” Matt said of Shannon, who played 20 league games at the Bay between 2010-12. “You look up to your older brother … he still comes and watches me, it’s been special.”

Family – like his friends and the Tigers’ fans – have played significant roles in his career and he’s thankful to them all. Mum Marie and Dad Wayne support him from the sidelines at every game, his nephew Francesco will run out with him for his big game and his niece Valentina will be there as well.

There should be a big turnout for him – the day also features a reunion for the 2019 premiership team – with the iconic Snout’s Louts certain to give their favourite player a huge reception (Snook has won their POTY – player of the year – award a record six times). “They’re massive,” Snook said of the Tigers’ supporters. “They ride the ups and downs with you and they have been so supportive over the journey. They’re a special group. That’s what makes the club go, really.”

There’s no doubt Redlegs fans will show respect, too – Snook is one of those rare footballers who is admired and respected by team-mates and opposition – and Glenelg and opposition fans alike. He’s the sort of player everyone would love in their team.

Snook loves it at the Bay. “The club’s been everything, really … it’s been half my life now,” he said. Snook, who started out in Glenelg’s under-15s, is driven by helping the youngsters in the side and gets as big a kick out of them making their debuts and finding their way in the game as anything else.

Playing 200 games was never a major aim – “when you start you want to just get your first game but once you create a spot you want to get your name on a locker (for 100 games)” – but he “hung around because I enjoyed the camaraderie between the boys” and suddenly it loomed large, being on 187 games after last year’s grand final triumph against Sturt.

“I was thinking about it, obviously it would have been nice to have hung up the boots last year with the flag – it’s a big fairytale. But the boys have been going so well and the club’s been looking after me – Reeva (coach Darren Reeves) has been supportive and Sandy (head of football Paul Sandercock) has been unreal for how long he’s been here, so why not give it another crack?”

Being part of a side in with a shot at snaring rare back-to-back flags made the decision to play on this year easier. “For a while it looked like we weren’t going to be anything but we had a core group that stuck together,” Snook said of how the tough times made the good times all the more special. “The team stuff, that’s what I drive for.”

So, clearly, there’s one goal for game No. 200. A win. A win for the club he loves, in front of the family, friends and fans he loves. And with the mates he loves.