Sport
18 November, 2025
Maryborough FNC legend Matthew Aston to be inducted for BFNL contribution
Matthew Aston’s incredible football career will be immortalised among a pantheon of local legends when the Maryborough Football Netball Club great is officially inducted into the Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL) Hall of Fame.
As a lightning-quick player possessing excellent disposal skills, one look at Aston’s resume proves his credentials.
A total of 208 senior games from 1992 to 2007, one of three Magpies to win the Michelsen Medal in 2002 for league best and fairest, three-time club best and fairest, two-time premiership player in 1998 and 1999, head coach in 2011 and 2012, club Team of the Century member and Maryborough Life Member.
Now, Aston’s legacy will be enshrined alongside the BFNL’s greats at the 2025 BFNL Hall of Fame Ceremony on Saturday, alongside nine other inductees.
This year’s induction class also includes, South Bendigo’s Gary Cowling, Sandhurst’s Chris Greene, Rose Gallagher, Kylie and Danny Ellis, Eaglehawk’s Steve McDougall, Gisborne’s Luke Saunders, umpire Rod Threlfall and journalist Richard Jones.
After being announced last week, Aston said he was left stunned when fellow Maryborough life member and best mate Cameron Skinner told him the news.
“It’s come as a bit of a shock, I suppose, it’s not something I ever gave much thought to. It’s a bit humbling,” he said.
“My first few words to Skinner were ‘you’re kidding me, surely there’s someone else’.
“I was more than shocked to tell you the truth, football was a bit of a long time ago, it was nearly all forgotten about, so it was a nice surprise.
“It’s strange because when you are playing, you aren’t worried about any halls of fame or anything much outside of having a good time with your mates, playing a bit of footy and hopefully winning more than what you’re losing.”
Rising through the ranks as a Maryborough junior, Aston was part of the inaugural Geelong Falcons squad in the now-called Coates Talent League in 1992, a team that went on to be the first premiers of the competition.
His performances with the Falcons, coupled with several senior appearances for the Magpies as a teenager in 1992, led to Aston being drafted to the Sydney Swans with the 71st pick of the 1992 national draft.
Following his two-year stint at the Swans, Aston said he felt compelled to return to his boyhood club.
“I played some games under Garry Higgins in 1992 when I was 16 and I loved it.
“When we did have the bye with the Falcons, we could play and (Higgins) picked me in a couple of senior teams that year and that’s where I was hooked. I just love the people and the club.
“I thought about my time in Maryborough and probably the thing that I miss the most about football is not the playing side but the locker room stuff and the 30 minutes after the games, they were always the best of times, I thought.”
Even with all of his individual accolades, Aston said being a part of Maryborough’s back-to-back premierships against Sandhurst by 47 points in 1998 and Castlemaine by 31 points in 1999 was the pinnacle of his Hall of Fame career.
“The two premierships obviously were the highlight. They were sensational times,” he said.
“The main thing I remember is Jamie Bond kicking five goals in the third quarter in the Grand Final against Castlemaine in 1999.”
With his official induction less than a week away, Aston said the feeling of becoming a Hall of Famer has already started to sink in.
“I’m definitely nervous, I’m not a big fan of crowds, especially if the spotlight is on me, so it will be interesting,” he said.
“It will be great to see some old faces, I know one of the other blokes getting inducted is Luke Saunders from Gisborne. He was a great player, tough opponent and he played in some super sides in the Gisborne team in the mid 2000s.
“I’m just honoured to have my name put up there with some of the others. I want to thank my parents for taking me here, there and everywhere when I was a kid and my partner Sally for putting up with me during my football career.”