Delisted Wagga footballer Matt Suckling has not given up on continuing his AFL career at a third club.
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Suckling was informed on Tuesday of the news he had dreaded that Western Bulldogs were not going to offer him a new contract for next season.
The development came on the back of an injury-plagued year for Suckling, who was restricted to just seven AFL games.
Suckling, 32, was disappointed to finish his tenure at the Bulldogs but is not prepared to call time on his AFL career just yet.
"It's obviously disappointing to be not offered a new contract on the back of what was also not a year I was happy with," Suckling told The Daily Advertiser.
"It was stop-start with injuries, being away from home, it was a tough year personally and on the football field so I would have loved to have extended my playing time at the 'Dogs but it's not to be. That's reality and I'm just absorbing it at the moment."
Suckling will now test the waters at other AFL clubs to see if there is an opportunity to extend his career elsewhere.
"I think at this stage I haven't written off playing anywhere else," he said.
"I understand that I'm 32 and I'm really fortunate to have played 14 years in the AFL. Going back, coming from Wagga, I definitely would not have thought I would have lasted this long in the system that's for sure.
"I've made a lot of good relationships and friendships with different people across the AFL industry and now is potentially the time to reach out to a few of those and see what the lay of the land is. Especially coming from a really successful club in Hawthorn there is a lot of assistant coaches of mine that have gone on and now are head coaches so a few text messages here and there can't hurt."
After two premierships at Hawthorn, and a 178-game AFL career, Suckling is confident he still has more to give.
"For sure. The conversations I've had with the Western Bulldogs Footy Club, all of the coaching staff and everyone leading into this decision, if it was to be the decision, is that my two attributes that have got me a game for the last 10 years in the AFL is my speed and my kicking and I'm really fortunate that either of those things haven't left me," he said.
"That gives me great hope that another club could potentially take another shot and extend my career a little bit further but things get a little bit harder as you get older and backing up week-to-week and day-to-day training at 32 gets a little bit harder but the attributes that have got me this far, I think, are still there, it's just whether another opportunity or not comes, I'm not sure."
Suckling is now able to be picked up as a delisted free agent at any time. He expects to know his fate within the month.
"Its a really tricky time in the AFL industry, as it is around the world, a lot of cuts have been made, list size cuts, salary cap and stuff like that," he said.
"It's really hard for clubs to be certain on things and make decisions. It's probably a disappointing time to come out of contract and be dealing with this because a lot of clubs have already allocated a lot of their spots, and that's going to be the one change that will make it hard to land somewhere else."
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