- Cheeky comment fired up Richmond players
- Tigers stars targeted the Essendon icon
AFL legend Matthew Lloyd has revealed how an off-the-cuff comment on The Footy Show once left him fearing for his safety on the field.
Lloyd was in his early playing days with Essendon in the mid-1990s when he declared to TV host Eddie McGuire on a Thursday night – ‘if Richo [Richmond great Matthew Richardson] plays we will go after that [injured] shoulder.’
He soon realised the error of his ways – and the Bombers full-forward didn’t sleep that night.
Essendon then took on Richmond 24 hours later and Lloyd was public enemy number one with Tigers players.
‘I was told by their captain I wouldn’t walk off the field, I would be carried off,’ he told Jacqui Felgate on 3AW Radio this week.
‘Then [fullback] Paul Bulluss – who was a huge man – bowled me over before a ball was bounced.
AFL legend Matthew Lloyd (pictured with wife Lisa-Marie) has revealed how an off-the-cuff comment on The Footy Show once left him fearing his safety on the field
Richmond players were furious after Lloyd declared his Essendon team were going to target Tigers champion Matthew Richardson
Following a stellar career with the Bombers, Lloyd successfully transitioned into the media, and is currently employed by the likes of Nine and 3AW
‘I then had my jumper ripped, and other players jumped on me.
‘I learnt my lesson…I didn’t say a (bad) word on The Footy Show for 10 years.’
Lloyd went onto become a club legend at Essendon, winning a premiership in 2000 in a champion team that only lost one match all season.
He also booted 926 goals in 270 appearances before retiring in 2009.
After hanging up his boots, Lloyd successfully transitioned into the media, and is currently employed by the likes of Nine and 3AW in addition to being the head football coach at Haileybury College in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Lloyd loudly questioned why the Bombers are set to extend the deal of head coach Brad Scott until 2027.
‘There’s no need for it. Why?’ Lloyd said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday.
‘So he’s got all of this year, and then you could potentially do it at the end of the year.
‘But I would have had a look at Brad and the performance of the team across another 22 weeks. We still know he is contracted for the year after.
‘Unless they believe they are going to have a poor year this year and they believe Brad’s going to come under a lot of scrutiny, I don’t understand why you would do it now.’
