Mattner during these two years was still young, and was playing well for his local SANFL club Sturt, regularly gathering 20 or more disposals a match as well as laying many bone-crunching tackles.

In the 2002 SANFL season, the Double Blues won the premiership over Central District and Mattner was listed among the best players in the Grand Final.

Team members were caught up in the 2002 Bali bombings and fellow player Josh Deegan and club official Bob Marshall were killed.

[5] During the 2004 season, Mattner was seen to improve in a number of areas – averaging eleven disposals and playing 16 matches for the year.

At that time, he had a career equaling 21 disposals in a game against Melbourne, and failed to miss a match after his inclusion in round 7 which shows how well he was performing.

His long left-foot kicking, often described as "raking" and "accurate" by television commentators, was vital in setting up many of Adelaide's forward thrusts.

In 2006, Mattner started to play on a half-back flank, keeping a smaller player relatively quiet and gaining many possessions of his own.

He picked up 12 Brownlow Medal votes, beating the likes of veterans Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Mark Ricciuto.

He had a terrific first year at his new club and consequently placed 3rd in the Bob Skilton Medal (Sydney's Best and Fairest Award) behind Jarrad McVeigh and Brett Kirk.

The milestone was overshadowed by Lenny Hayes playing his 250th AFL game for the Saints in the same match, as the Swans lost by 28 points.

He played an important role in the team, including a ferocious run down tackle on Hawthorn's Grant Birchall in the dying minutes.

Just prior to round 11, Mattner announced his retirement effective immediately, due to a degenerative hip condition that had caused him constant pain for several years.

Mattner stated that to continue playing football would aggravate the injury and could lead to a life of crippling pain.