Matthew Ridge 1990 to 1996

Saturday, 15 October 2005 05:00

A junior All Black, Matthew Ridge was brought to the Sea Eagles by the clubs Kiwi coach Graham Lowe in 1990. Manly had been on the lookout for a reliable fullback after the departure of the talented Dale Shearer the previous season.

He debuted in a match at Brookvale Oval and almost immediately stunned the Manly faithful when after an early penalty was awarded to Manly near half way and close to the sideline he elected to take a shot a goal.

From a seemingly impossible position on the field, Ridge appeared to have raised
A junior All Black, Matthew Ridge was brought to the Sea Eagles by the clubs Kiwi coach Graham Lowe in 1990. Manly had been on the lookout for a reliable fullback after the departure of the talented Dale Shearer the previous season.

He debuted in a match at Brookvale Oval and almost immediately stunned the Manly faithful when after an early penalty was awarded to Manly near half way and close to the sideline he elected to take a shot a goal.

From a seemingly impossible position on the field, Ridge appeared to have raised the flags with a massive kick but it dropped at the last second and hit the cross bar rebounding into the field of play.

Despite the miss, this was the start of a point scoring landslide for the Union convert and he regularly topped the point scoring lists over the next 7 or 8 seasons. Funnily enough he was never considered a goal kicker in Rugby Union but this proved to be his trademark in the 13 a side game.

Matthew cemented his spot in not only the Sea Eagles first grade side but also the Kiwi test side in 1990. In fact he debuted at fullback for the Kiwis after only 6 games in rugby league.

After Graham Lowes departure from the club, Ridges form blossomed under the tutor ledge of club legend Bob Fulton. He combined his kicking ability and sound defensive skills with an enterprising attacking game.

Along with Geoff Toovey and Cliff Lyons he became one of the clubs on field generals in our highly successful sides in the mid nineties. He holds the clubs season point scoring record with 257 points (11 tries, 106 gls, 1 fg) in 1995 while he achieved the game record when he collected 30 points in a match against Western Suburbs in 1996.

However Ridge was one of two Manly players linked to Super League during the war that erupted over TV rights. He was extremely critical of the ARL despite his Manly connection and he actually sat out the first 9 rounds of 1996 as he attempted to play in the News Limited run Super League competition.

The club held firm on his contract and when he returned to the field his fierce competitive spirit ensured his form and contribution to the team was not impacted by the off field distractions. He became an integral part of the Sea Eagles premiership winning squad in 1996 and thus wrote himself into the clubs history books as a premiership winning player.

During the 1996 Grand Final against the Dragons he created a storm of protest from opposition supporters when after appearing to be tackled he got and ran again with the referees blessing. Stunned St George players watched Ridge run past them and off load the ball to Steve Menzies who scored on the stroke of half time. This try broke the Dragons resolve and Manly went onto record an easy victory in the premiership decider.

However at the end of 1996, Ridge elected to renew his association with Super League and he returned to New Zealand to play with the Auckland Warriors and he retired in 1999, briefly going into the Warriors administration. It is believed he has no involvement or interest in the game now.

Ridge played 122 games for the Sea Eagles scoring 1093 points from 32 tries, 477 goals and 11 field goals.

Matthew Ridge a point scoring machine.

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