There’s an old saying that’s been repeated and paraphrased time and again.
“Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”
In the world of goalkeeping – more specifically for those who have been saddled with the tag ‘backup goalkeeper’ throughout their career – this phrase couldn’t be more true.
For Western United goalkeeper Matt Sutton, this has been the story of his professional career to date. He stayed ready and now, after getting his chance, it’s paying off in spades, helping his side surge up the A-League Men table off the back of an incredible run of form.
“I’ve been around for a long enough time that I believe in myself and my ability,” the 24-year-old told pfa.net.au.
“I just had to prove that to other people, and maybe the coaching staff and people that have taken a chance on me, that you can translate those performances from training into a game.
“There’s a big difference from being a really super consistent trainer, which I try to be, to being a super consistent performer. So I still feel like I’m in that state at the moment where I’m still trying to prove myself week-in, week-out and just carry on.
“I’ve trained at this level consistently for seven or eight years. So for me, now that I’ve finally got my opportunity… It’s just about bringing that consistency that I feel that I brought in training and coming up through the ranks to this level.”
A professional career developed and honed at three Victorian clubs
Ever since landing his first professional deal with Melbourne Victory as a teenager in 2018, Sutton had served as backup goalkeeper to a myriad of shot-stoppers at each of Victoria’s three A-League Men sides (Victory, Melbourne City, Western).
At Victory, it was working under the tutelage of Lawrence Thomas and Matt Acton, where he also struggled with injury.
Then at City, it was working hand-in-hand with Tom Glover during City’s Championship and Premiership winning teams in 2021-23, before heading out west where he started out as backup to Thomas Heward-Belle in the 2023-24 season.
In fact, in six years, Sutton had only made three senior appearances prior to joining Western, which came all with City: his debut in the 2020-21 season away to Brisbane Roar and two back-to-back starts the following season against Macarthur FC and Western.
But all Sutton needed was a chance. Not just any one off appearance between the sticks, but a prolonged opportunity to show what he was made of.
And once that came, Sutton has never looked back, earning a chance towards the end of last campaign due to a finger injury to Thomas Heward-Belle, before solidifying himself as Western’s number one choice this season. Sutton has since played every minute of the current campaign.
Not only has he established himself as a starter, but he’s been one of the in-form keepers in the competition and was among the nominees for the Austraffic PFA Player of the Month in December.
Getting to this position, however, required resilience, especially when Sutton could have easily thrown in the towel after years of being overlooked. In fact, it was those experiences out on the training paddock that he believes helped him reach this position where he’s now thriving at Ironbark Fields.
“I’ve always been most comfortable when I’ve been part of the team, sort of fulfilled when I’m contributing to something that’s part of a bigger picture,” he said.
“So that probably helps me as being a number two. Even though you’re not so much contributing and you’re on the bench and that sort of thing, I took my role really seriously in training throughout the week, helping the boys who were playing to prepare. And through that, I probably learned a lot of things about seeing other people get their opportunities, and maybe what they did wrong, what they did right.
“I probably got a lot of experience that I didn’t realise out of doing that. Then it just happened that I got my own opportunity. I had been around it, I didn’t feel that I was a fish out of water and I felt really comfortable moving into that. I’ve seen a lot of other boys do it and they go to even higher levels than the A-League.
“I think training week in, week out, with them being part of a team, and then seeing people like that go onto bigger and better things, you generate your own sort of self belief… It’s just when I do get my opportunity, I need to be ready every day, and being part of that bigger picture certainly helps that.”
Developing resilience
But it hasn’t come without its challenges, where Sutton has tapped into his support network who have helped him through those difficult patches.
“There’s been times when you’re not playing and you’re thinking: ‘How am I going to get this next contract?’ Or ‘what does my year look like next year?’ And and all those sort of overwhelming things sort of creep up,” he said.
“I have a really awesome support network through my family and my girlfriend down here. I actually lived in a homestay environment for my first three years down in Melbourne. They’re a really amazing family. So I always had a really good network outside of football.
“Obviously, there were times when I had to put all my energy and stuff into things outside of football because it wasn’t going so good and that helped me that football wasn’t the only thing in my life.
“There have certainly been moments where I thought: ‘this might not be the career for me, or this might not be the path for me’. I’m pretty lucky with all the people around me and all the opportunities I’ve had to do other things that I realised how lucky I am to do before, and that sort of keeps me going.”
Studies and life off the field
And while Sutton has been been busy on the field recently, he’s been just as busy off it, completing a Bachelor of Commerce, which has helped set himself up for life after football.
“When I was at Melbourne Victory, I had a couple of injuries in both my knees, and I had back-to-back knee surgeries, and I was just finishing Year 12. I had been all in on football, and I had a bit of an epiphany that this [football] might not be forever and I realised how hard rehabbing is and just how sometimes football is not for everyone,” he said.
“You start to look at other people’s careers, and think I might need something to back him up here. Through the PFA, I got in to university and studied a Bachelor of Commerce. They have a really amazing sports network there, where they help elite athletes with a little bit of flexibility around due dates and stuff. So I found my way in there. Thought I would start that, give that a go and see where it ended up.
“It was a really good use of my time, afternoons, after training, my weekend, my off-season kept me super busy, and I was really flexible so I could pick up units whenever there was a bit of a down period in the A-League or whatnot, and it just kept me going. It ended up taking me five and a half years, picking up subjects and dropping them, and it was something that really sort of filled up my time and didn’t have to think about football when I went home.
“I could do a little bit of study here or there, or if I had a bad game, or maybe had an exam coming up, and all of a sudden you’re into something else, and the next day you’re at training, and you didn’t even think about sort of a bad game or the bit of pressure that you’re facing. That really helps me to get through.
“Especially those those junior years when you’re number two and number three [in the pecking order], and you’re not even close to playing.
“That was a big time in my life for those five and a half years and something that I’m really happy that I did. It helped me with all parts of life, and hopefully helps me whenever the time may be that I need to use it.”
PFA support and words of wisdom
Sutton added that his support from the PFA has helped him with those off-field endeavours, along with when he’s required assistance in clubland.
“They’ve been massive for me,” he said.
“I was part of the last intake of AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) players program. That came to a close and the funding was cut off, and I think we might have had six to nine months left of our program, and all of a sudden… it was like ‘what were we going to do?’
“The PFA actually funded all of us to go out on trials and help us get placements in A-League clubs, so they helped me big time to get down to Melbourne Victory.
“Following on from that, I’ve accessed PFA Player Education grants all throughout my career. I think I’m almost up to the maximum! They’ve helped me with uni fees and my HECS [debt].
“And just the one-on-one support too. I’ve had some really amazing Player Development Managers through the clubs I’ve been at. Even if it just means checking in seeing how you’re going, how uni is, what you’re up to, and all that sort of stuff.
“So they’ve been a really positive influence on my education journey and my football journey in general, and my wellbeing. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have had a degree, that’s for sure.”
Having understood the uncertainty that comes with being a professional player and the finite lifespan of this career path, Sutton has some words of wisdom for those looking to tap into other interests outside of the game.
“I think there’s just so many highs and lows in football,” he said.
“I always talk about you’re never as good as people think, or you’re never as bad as people think, as long as you’ve got something outside of football, or there’s a bigger picture, and you’re working towards something, I think it makes football seem, when there are those downs, or it makes football not as important.
“When you are down, whatever, whatever’s going on on the pitch or off the pitch, and you’ve got something else, and you’re working towards something else that makes your worries or fears in football a little bit more insignificant, and I think it makes you more well rounded as a person.
“You’re able to deal with all sorts of different things, whether it be a due date or a little bit of exam pressure like that can take away from your football thinking and… you don’t want to be sitting around playing on the Xbox all afternoon. There’s certainly a time and place for that, but it’s just about getting more well rounded as a person, and sort of preparing yourself for the future.”
