Simon and his partner had been walking their dog on the eve of the club’s trip north to turn around a two goal deficit when he stepped on something sharp that left him needing six stitches in a deep cut to his foot.
 
“There’s a beach near our house where you can take your dogs off their leash, and we have been going every day for the last three months," said Simon.

"I threw a toy in the water but the dog wouldn’t get it, so I was going in to get it, I was knee deep and as I stepped in the seaweed I stepped on something sharp.

"I looked at my foot and there was a massive cut on it. It’s a really clean cut so the doctor thinks it was probably glass. I’m absolutely devastated.

"We’ve trained well all week and the boys have been really confident that we can go up there and do the job we need to do so I’m really devastated that this has happened at this time.”
 
Simon has scored 11 goals this campaign and was a vital part of the gameplan to keep alive the Mariners' hopes of hosting the 2011 Grand Final by reversing their 2-0 loss against Roar last weekend.
 
"I’ll be sitting at home cheering them on with my sore foot, and I’m confident that the boys can go up there and make a great fight of it, get the job done and get the result we need,” Simon said.
 
Mariners Head Coach Graham Arnold says Simon will be a massive loss.
 
“Matt is our leading goal scorer this season and of course we will miss him, but I’m confident that we have the depth and quality in this squad to cover his absence,” said Arnold.

"It was just one of those freakish things and as you can imagine he is shattered.

"While losing Simmo means we will have to change things around, everyone in this squad, whether they have been regulars or not, know what their jobs are and know what we need to do to beat Brisbane, so we will go up there with nothing to lose, and give it our best shot.”
 
The match marks the latest battle in arguably the two standout coaches of the 2010/11 campaign, with Arnold and Ange Postecoglou enjoying the two best win-loss ratios of any coach in the history of the Hyundai A-League.
 
Arnold’s ratio of 2.67 wins for every loss outstrips Postecoglou’s achievement of 2.40 wins for every loss, but not one for individual honours, Arnold says that will mean nothing if the result isn’t the right one.
 
The coach added: “That’s probably testament to the hard work this entire squad has put in this season, we don’t have any superstars or marquee players but every one of them have put in 100% every day, and as a coach that’s all you can ask for.
 
“Matty Ryan is only 18 and has kept 12 clean sheets, more than anyone else during the season, and then you have people like Patrick Zwaanswijk, Josh Rose and Oliver Bozanic who have come in from overseas and have done incredible jobs.
 
“We have a lot of young kids and they have all really stepped up this year under tremendous leadership from the older guys like Patrick, Wilko, Hutch and McBreen.”