Matthew Lloyd had a dream start to his AFL career - his first kick was his first goal. Lloyd vividly remembers his first game and his first possession in the Round 4 1995 match against Adelaide. ""I remember running out with the big Fish, Longy and Hirdy and all of these great players and lining up with Fish in the forward pocket and 20 seconds into the game soccering a goal off the ground and finishing with three for the day. We beat Adelaide by 100-points so it was a good first game,"" Lloyd said. That was the start of a stellar career for Lloyd who has had no trouble finding the goals in his 149 games for the club.

Lloyd has kicked 531 goals in his nine seasons at the club and when he runs out on Saturday against Richmond it will be for the 150th time in an Essendon guernsey. Despite Lloyd being the premier full forward in the competition he still puts high expectations on himself and has done so from a young age. ""When I first started I wanted to consolidate a spot in the side. As I got older I got to 70 goals and then I kicked 80 the next year. Then I thought I want to kick 100 goals and now I just try and be as consistent as the Hirds and Voss' and all those great players and try and play at a consistent level week in and week out,"" Lloyd said.

Lloyd has already received many football accolades in his career including - All Australian selection on four occasions (1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001), pre-season premiership side in 2000, premiership side 2000, ranked 22nd in the Champions of Essendon, Coleman Medal 2000 and 2001, Rising Star nominee in 1996, six club leading goal kicker award (1997-2002) and third in the 1997 and 1998 best and fairest. The 25-year-old still believes he has a long future left in the game. ""I want to play the game as long as I can play at a good level. If that is 32 years and I am still playing well enough that is how long I want to play for. I want to go out in a good way and hopefully that is in another seven or eight years,"" the former Western Jets player said.

Lloyd has played the majority of his career at full forward but in recent weeks we have seen him move up the ground to centre half forward. ""The game has definitely changed since I got here in 1995 when all those great full forwards were running around - Locket, Ablett and Dunstall. I think there are a lot of tactics that go into the game and it can be pretty predictable at full forward. I really feel like I am playing like Carey did in the mid 90's - an in between type of role and that is how I am enjoying it at the moment. I am not getting stale just standing in the goal square,"" Lloyd said.