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Matthew Primus

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Australian rules footballer, born 1975

Australian rules footballer
Matthew Primus
Primus with Gold Coast in August 2018
Personal information
Full name Matthew Richard Primus
Date of birth (1975-01-12) 12 January 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Geelong, Victoria
Original team(s) Geelong Falcons (TAC Cup)/Norwood Football Club (SANFL)
Draft No. 2, 1995 National Draft, Fitzroy
Height 197 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Weight 109 kg (240 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman
Playing career
Years Club Games (Goals)
1996 Fitzroy 020 0(5)
1997–2005 Port Adelaide 137 (76)
Total 157 (81)
International team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2002 Australia 2
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
2010–2012 Port Adelaide 47 (13–34–0) 27.66%
Playing statistics correct to the end of 2005. State and international statistics correct as of 2002. Coaching statistics correct as of 2012.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Matthew Richard Primus (born 12 January 1975) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He will serve as head coach of the Southport Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 2025.

Primus previously played for, captained and later coached the Port Adelaide Football Club. He was also an assistant coach at the Gold Coast Suns from 2013 until 2018.

AFL career

Fitzroy career

Early career (1996)

Primus began his career with the Fitzroy Football Club in what was to be their final season in the AFL. At the end of the season, he had played 20 games and kicked five goals, becoming one of their key players. Primus signed with the Port Adelaide Football Club as an uncontracted zone player during their AFL establishment in 1996.

Port Adelaide career

Career high (1997–2002)

After finishing second in Fitzroy’s 1996 best and fairest and in the same position in Port Adelaide's 1997 best and fairest, Primus had established himself as one of the game's top ruckmen, but his close losses in the best and fairest counts would be a pointer to the bad luck he would face later in his career. 1999 saw Primus play only two games before a serious knee injury ruled him out for the year, yet the Power managed to improve on their combined record of 19-23-2 to reach seventh position. As his star rose as a player, Primus was also getting noticed off the field, being voted Cleo Magazine's ”Most Eligible Bachelor" in 1998. After the Power had a disappointing season in 2000, Primus was promoted to captain of the club in 2001, and led the team to a minor premiership in 2002 with only two losses in their last twenty home-and-away games before lack of finals experience told.

Injuries (2003–2004)

In 2003 Primus was hampered by hamstring and knee injuries, and only played nine games. The worst was yet to come, however, and 2004 would be the ultimate heartbreak for Primus. In his return game in Round 3, he suffered an ACL rupture after his left knee bent the wrong way, requiring a knee reconstruction and putting him out of the game for the rest of the 2004 season. Warren Tredrea took over the captaincy, and after plenty of near-misses in the finals, Port Adelaide would go on to win the premiership that year, with Primus missing out.

Final season (2005)

In 2005, Primus made another return to the AFL. His form was not indicative of the Primus of old, however, and it seemed Port were playing Primus out of respect that he was the captain. Not only that, but Port Adelaide were not the same strong side they were just a year earlier. While they eventually had a few results go their way and managed to scrape into the finals, Primus injured his knee again in the final round of the home-and-away season. He was expected to miss only the finals series at first, but later scans revealed that he would require a third knee reconstruction. The likelihood that he would not be able to play until 2007 meant Primus announced his retirement from the AFL at the age of 30.

Statistics

Legend
  G   Goals   K   Kicks   D   Disposals    T   Tackles
  B   Behinds    H   Handballs    M   Marks H/O Hit-outs
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
1996 Fitzroy 12 20 5 7 163 137 300 61 41 339 0.3 0.4 8.2 6.9 15.0 3.1 2.1 17.0 2
1997 Port Adelaide 2 22 6 1 179 89 268 74 38 255 0.3 0.0 8.1 4.0 12.2 3.4 1.7 11.6 9
1998 Port Adelaide 2 18 4 2 105 128 233 55 34 289 0.2 0.1 5.8 7.1 12.9 3.1 1.9 16.1 4
1999 Port Adelaide 2 2 1 0 9 5 14 4 1 28 0.5 0.0 4.5 2.5 7.0 2.0 0.5 14.0 0
2000 Port Adelaide 2 21 12 8 124 163 287 79 45 315 0.6 0.4 5.9 7.8 13.7 3.8 2.1 15.0 5
2001 Port Adelaide 1 22 9 5 137 156 293 85 60 488 0.4 0.2 6.2 7.1 13.3 3.9 2.7 22.2 10
2002 Port Adelaide 1 24 23 8 140 180 320 91 75 490 1.0 0.3 5.8 7.5 13.3 3.8 3.1 20.4 9
2003 Port Adelaide 1 9 5 1 34 27 61 22 15 111 0.6 0.1 3.8 3.0 6.8 2.4 1.7 12.3 0
2004 Port Adelaide 1 1 4 1 7 5 12 5 5 11 4.0 1.0 7.0 5.0 12.0 5.0 5.0 11.0 0
2005 Port Adelaide 1 18 12 10 87 87 174 50 35 289 0.7 0.6 4.8 4.8 9.7 2.8 1.9 16.1 2
Career 157 81 43 985 977 1962 526 349 2615 0.5 0.3 6.3 6.2 12.5 3.4 2.2 16.7 41

Coaching career

Port Adelaide (2006–2012)

Primus was an assistant coach at Port Adelaide Football Club under senior coach Mark Williams from December 2005 to July 2010.

Just over midway through the 2010 season, with the Power’s record getting worse week by week, Williams stepped down as senior coach after Round 15, and Primus was appointed the caretaker senior coach for the remainder of the 2010 season. As caretaker senior coach, Primus won five of his seven games in charge, with two of them against in-form teams Adelaide and Hawthorn, and earned numerous praises from players, staff and supporters for the job in 2011. The club administration had started the search for a new coach and it was believed that the Power would appoint someone who had never been associated with the club before. Nevertheless, Primus was appointed as the senior coach of the club for three years.

In the 2011 season in Primus' first full season as the full-time Port Adelaide senior coach, the side won only three games, finishing second-last, narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon with a win in the final round of the season against Melbourne, at the expense of Gold Coast in their inaugural season. He finished the 2011 season with a 3-19 win–loss record. In the 2012 season, he coached the team to a 5–13 record after nineteen rounds, but after the team's 34-point loss to struggling expansion team Greater Western Sydney in Round 19, Primus was informed that his contract would be terminated one year early at the end of the season; he opted to step down as senior coach immediately, on 6 August 2012, rather than coach out the remaining four matches, and he was replaced by Port Adelaide assistant coach Garry Hocking as caretaker senior coach for the remainder of the 2012 season. He left Port Adelaide with a winning percentage of just 27.7%.

Gold Coast Suns (2013–2018)

On 25 September 2013, Primus was announced as an assistant coach of the Gold Coast Suns. At the end of the 2018 season, Primus left the Gold Coast Suns after he was told that his contract would not be renewed as assistant coach as part of a clean-out at the club.

Southport (2025–)

On 7 August 2024, Southport Football Club announced Primus would join the club as its Victorian Football League (VFL) head coach, beginning from the 2025 season.

Personal life

Primus married Melissa Tucker in January 2007. They have three daughters together, Skye (born April 2006), Holly (born July 2007) and Georgia (born August 2008). He is also the grandson of former Geelong Football Club player, captain and coach Reg Hickey.

Honours and achievements

Team:

Individual:

References

  1. ^ "VFL COACHING ANNOUNCEMENT". Southport Sharks. 8 August 2024. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  2. "Football Staff". goldcoastfc.com.au. Gold Coast Football Club. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  3. "Matthew Primus". AFL Tables. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  4. Lovett, AFL Record Guide To Season 2007, p. 227
  5. "Primus appointed - Official AFL Website of the Port Adelaide Football Club". Portadelaidefc.com.au. 11 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  6. "Power triumphs over Adelaide at AAMI | Adelaide Now". Archived from the original on 28 July 2010.
  7. Niall, Jake (16 July 2010). "Top assistants in frame for senior Port job". The Age. Melbourne.
  8. "Primus Appointed Coach - Official AFL Website of the Port Adelaide Football Club". www.portadelaidefc.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010.
  9. "Port Adelaide Football Club chooses Matthew Primus to replace Mark Williams as coach". 8 September 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  10. "Port Adelaide Football Club chooses Matthew Primus to replace Mark Williams as coach". 9 September 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  11. Rucci, Michelangelo (6 August 2012). "Matthew Primus told he will not coach Port Adelaide next year". Herald Sun. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  12. "Matthew Primus Coaching Record and Statistics".
  13. "Ex-Power coach Matthew Primus joins Gold Coast as its new assistant coach | AFL news | The Courier-Mail". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
  14. "Gold Coast Suns clean-out begins with assistant coaches Matthew Primus, Andy Lovell gone". 9 July 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  15. "Gold Coast look to the future as the 'clean-out' begins". 10 July 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  16. "Major clean out begins for Suns as struggling club looks to fresh start". 24 August 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2021.

External links

Captains of the Port Adelaide Football Club
SANFL
(seniors)
AFL
AFLW
SANFL
(reserves)
Port Adelaide joined the AFL as a separate entity to the SANFL side. The two clubs merged in 2014, and the SANFL side now functions as Port Adelaide's AFL reserves team.
Coaches of the Port Adelaide Football Club
Men's
Women's
Italics denote caretaker coach
John Cahill Medal • Port Adelaide Football Club best and fairest winners
2001 All-Australian team
Full-back
Half-back
Centre
Half-forward
Full-forward
Ruck
Interchange
Coach
← 2000 The position of coach in the All-Australian team has been awarded to the coach of the premiership-winning team since 1999. 2002 →
2002 All-Australian team
Full-back
Half-back
Centre
Half-forward
Full-forward
Ruck
Interchange
Coach
← 2001 The position of coach in the All-Australian team has been awarded to the coach of the premiership-winning team since 1999. 2003 →
1996 AFL Rising Star nominees
Italics denote winner
Australian squad – 2002 International Rules Series
Coach: Lyon
1995 AFL national draft
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