Suckling the supreme champion

This article first appeared in The Daily Advertiser

By Matt Malone

Successful AFL footballer Matt Suckling proved he is Wagga Wagga’s premier all-round athlete with an impressive victory in Wagga’s Sports Champion event on Saturday.

Suckling is currently one of Wagga’s best known sporting exports and he proved he was a lot more than just an elite kicker of the football by taking out the one-day sporting extravaganza in sweltering heat.

It came down to the final challenge of the day to decide Wagga’s Sports Champion but Suckling reigned supreme to take out the multi sports challenge and the title.

Motocross star Truman Carroll and Taekwondo champion Rob McMahon tied for equal second after just one point separated all three before the kayak, run, swim.

Suckling earned the maximum 15 points for taking out the challenge and finished on 89, ahead of Carroll and McMahon on 81.

The 24-year-old Hawthorn footballer was proud to become the second winner of the event.

“Absolutely, it’s always nice to win something,” Suckling said.

“Being competitive beasts, it’s nice to come out on top.”

It was Suckling’s all-round ability that helped him reign supreme.

He was more than competitive in the pool and ultimately it was his swimming that helped him mow down Truman Carroll to take out the final event.

He won the AFL goal kicking naturally and the multi-sport challenge, and finished top three in the 50m freestyle, basketball, car push and 100m sprint.

It was perhaps his speed that surprised most as he pushed Harry Cunningham all the way in the 100m sprint, clocking a time of 12.10 seconds.

Suckling said he exceeded his expectations.

“I wasn’t too sure how I was going to go,” Suckling said.

“There were a few challenges that I had no hope with and early on I was pretty bad.

“After the car push I knew I went up into third and that was a bit of a shock because I didn’t think I would go any good at that.

“I knew if I could get the goal kicking right then I was a chance coming into the last event.”

Suckling trailed Carroll into the final 100m swim but had caught him by the time they reached the half-way buoy.

He said it was a fantastic event to take part in.

“You get to meet a lot of new blokes who are very talented and you get to watch what they’re good at,” Suckling said.

“It was pretty impressive watching them.

“There are some awesome competitors and Andrew Wild has done a great job getting everything together.”

Click here to visit the Advertiser’s website for photos and the live blog of the event!