Mathew Leckie stars in this week’s episode of A-Leagues All Access. Watch it on KEEPUP.
At 19 years of age, a baby-faced Mathew Leckie was setting the Isuzu UTE A-League alight – until a scything, knee-high tackle stopped the Adelaide United flyer in his tracks.
It was October of 2010, and Leckie was busy announcing himself on the Australian football scene. In his second season at the Reds, he had bagged four goals in eight games as his star continued to rise.
German club Borussia Monchengladbach were circling; Leckie had almost secured a move to the club in the off-season prior as they kept an eye on his progress.
Then came the challenge that tore the future Socceroos star’s left medial ligament. The offender was Melbourne Victory’s Surat Sukha, who wrapped a lunging tackle around Leckie’s planted left leg in an Original Rivalry bout at Marvel Stadium
“Definitley, I remember the tackle,” Leckie says. “It was another derby, always a big lead-up to the games.”
Leckie recalls the incident as part of this week’s Episode of A-Leagues All Access, titled The Way It Is. He’s the focal point of the episode which follows the Socceroos star through the very first days of his return home after starring for his nation at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
But Leckie also reflects on that tackle from Sukha, which led to the teenager spending four months on the sidelines.
At the time, the consequences of the injury could have been catastrophic for a teenager timing his run to Europe.
“I already had slight issues with my knee, so I had it strapped for the game,” Leckie continues. “Someone played me a through ball, and I was running onto it toward the byline, and he’s sort of come across and hit my knee.”
The commentary of Simon Hill and Robbie Slater cut through the broadcast at the time, as Leckie writhed in pain on the Docklands turf.
“That is a real worry, you can see he’s got that left knee heavily strapped,” said Hill.
“He’s kicked him right on it,” replied Slater.
Sukha got to his feet, gesturing to the linesman that he had got the ball, before walking away from the scene with two hands raised toward the referee. Then, he made his way across to check on the grounded Reds winger.
“There was a lot of controversy on if it was meant or not,” Leckie says. “I don’t think any player looks to injure a player.”
Leckie’s opinion hasn’t changed in 13 years. At just 19 years of age, he showed the level-headedness which has defined him throughout a long career.
He said at the time: “Obviously he (Sukha) was going for the ball but he probably wanted to go and knock me about as well.
“Unfortunately he was a bit late… it’s a tough one to call.’’
The incident sparked real controversy with some suggesting that Melbourne Victory had targeted Leckie, with Sukha’s challenge among many laid on the winger early in that match.
“The moment with Leckie, I don’t want to say someone did it on purpose, but he (was) kicked out of the game. That’s a big loss,” Adelaide boss Rini Coolen said after the game.
Asked if Leckie was targeted, he added: “That belongs to football. That is football, it’s 50-50 moments, sometimes for you, sometimes against you. There were a few tackles on him in that period… he’s a dangerous players, he’s quick, sometimes too quick for somebody and that’s why sometimes they kick him. Maybe not on purpose, but they kicked him out of the game, we couldn’t use him anymore. He’s a really important player for us.”
The rancour over the tackle lingered. Only a few months later, Victory were in the spotlight again after Kevin Muscat’s infamous challenge on Melbourne Heart’s Adrian Zahra in the Melbourne Derby.
Former Socceroo Craig Foster told The Age: ”There’s a history at the club of violent acts. The Matthew Leckie incident earlier in the season by Surat Sukha is an example. When he (Sukha) came here (from Thailand), he didn’t do those tackles, he learned those at the club.”
But Leckie, who went under the knife to repair the medial ligament in his left knee, now reveals to All Access that, in the fallout of Sukha’s controversial challenge, Victory boss Ernie Merrick reached out to assure him the hefty challenge wasn’t pre-ordained.
“I actually got a phone call (in) the next few days from (Victory coach) Ernie Merrick to apologise,” he says. “And just to clarify there was no intention to go out there and injure me.”
After his first opportunity to depart Adelaide for Germany fell through, Leckie knew it was vital to be playing regularly if he had any hope of sealing a move by the end of the 2010-11 A-League Men season.
He was “frustrated and devastated” at the time of the injury – but in January of 2011, he was ready to make his return. Five appearances at the backend of the campaign culminated in a start for the Reds in a home final against Gold Coast United. He bagged a second-half goal to put Adelaide ahead, in a game which ultimately ended 3-2 in Gold Coast’s favour.
“I missed most of the season, I came back in the elimination final and I actually scored,” he says. “That was my last game. But I already knew I was leaving to Germany.”
It was Leckie’s Coopers Stadium send-off, and his last game in the Red of his hometown club before he made that well-earned move to Monchengladbach.
Watch A-Leagues All Access Episode 15 | The Way It Is
Produced by KEEPUP Studios and JAMTV, each new episode of the docuseries will debut on Thursday at 7:30pm AEDT on 10 Play, KEEPUP.COM.AU, the KEEPUP app. It will be available on Australia’s fastest growing streaming service, Paramount+, and will then be broadcast on 10 Bold at 2:00pm AEDT on Sunday afternoons as an appetiser for the evening’s Isuzu UTE A-League Men game on the same channel.
