HappilyManly
Journey Man
Matt Ballin will play 200 games for the Manly Sea Eagles against the Raiders in Albury
AS Sea Eagles ironman Matt Ballin prepares to play his 200th NRL game on Saturday, he has paid tribute to his greatest supporter.
The warhorse forward, who racked up his 182nd consecutive game last year, says he would not have achieved all the success he has if his wife Shannan had not been on the journey with him.
Manly plays the Canberra Raiders in Albury on Saturday.
Matt Ballin is playing his 200th game on Saturday.
“I met her in Brisbane before I was playing first grade or anything like that,” Ballin said.
“She has been with me all along and has seen all the times I have been plugging away in reserve grade.
“At Manly I spent a lot of time playing reserve grade and I had some doubts sometimes it was ever going to happen.
“But she has been by my side and a great support throughout all the hard times and the good times.
“A family is a team and when one is struggling the other has to step up.”
The club is flying Shannan and their three children Fletcher, Murphy and Mackenzie to Albury on Saturday to watch the Sea Eagles’ quiet achiever achieve his milestone.
For a proud family man, that will only add to the occasion.
“Having some children who love coming to the game and love watching the game and love talking about footy and playing footy themselves now, it’s really special,” Ballin said.
“They are in the sheds after the game and it’s really nice to have them around.”
Ballin arrived at Manly from Queensland in 2004 and did the hard yards before making his first grade debut in round three of 2007 against the Tigers.
“It took me a while to get into first grade and the club has been very good to me and provided me with a great career,” he said.
Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey said Ballin was right up there with the toughest players to have ever pulled on a Manly jumper.
“His record shows that, he doesn’t shirk the hard work and does 40-50 tackles a game,” Toovey said.
And Ballin admits he sets pretty high standards and expectations for myself.
“I’ve always been very driven on an individual basis from a young age to be successful in rugby league,” he said.
A win on Saturday would be a fitting reward for Ballin and help the Sea Eagles get their premiership campaign back on track.
“I don’t know if it is the toughest time, it’s definitely a testing and challenging period at the club,” he said.
“We haven’t started well, we have won one out of four games
“Manly has always been known to be resilient and have our backs against the wall and have that attitude that everyone is against us.
“We really use that to motivate us and I can see that being the case now.”
Ballin has given the Sea Eagles a boost ahead of Saturday’s game by re-signing with the club until the end of 2017.
- JON GEDDES
- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
- APRIL 04, 2015 12:00AM
AS Sea Eagles ironman Matt Ballin prepares to play his 200th NRL game on Saturday, he has paid tribute to his greatest supporter.
The warhorse forward, who racked up his 182nd consecutive game last year, says he would not have achieved all the success he has if his wife Shannan had not been on the journey with him.
Manly plays the Canberra Raiders in Albury on Saturday.
Matt Ballin is playing his 200th game on Saturday.
“I met her in Brisbane before I was playing first grade or anything like that,” Ballin said.
“She has been with me all along and has seen all the times I have been plugging away in reserve grade.
“At Manly I spent a lot of time playing reserve grade and I had some doubts sometimes it was ever going to happen.
“But she has been by my side and a great support throughout all the hard times and the good times.
“A family is a team and when one is struggling the other has to step up.”
The club is flying Shannan and their three children Fletcher, Murphy and Mackenzie to Albury on Saturday to watch the Sea Eagles’ quiet achiever achieve his milestone.
For a proud family man, that will only add to the occasion.
“Having some children who love coming to the game and love watching the game and love talking about footy and playing footy themselves now, it’s really special,” Ballin said.
“They are in the sheds after the game and it’s really nice to have them around.”
Ballin arrived at Manly from Queensland in 2004 and did the hard yards before making his first grade debut in round three of 2007 against the Tigers.
“It took me a while to get into first grade and the club has been very good to me and provided me with a great career,” he said.
Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey said Ballin was right up there with the toughest players to have ever pulled on a Manly jumper.
“His record shows that, he doesn’t shirk the hard work and does 40-50 tackles a game,” Toovey said.
And Ballin admits he sets pretty high standards and expectations for myself.
“I’ve always been very driven on an individual basis from a young age to be successful in rugby league,” he said.
A win on Saturday would be a fitting reward for Ballin and help the Sea Eagles get their premiership campaign back on track.
“I don’t know if it is the toughest time, it’s definitely a testing and challenging period at the club,” he said.
“We haven’t started well, we have won one out of four games
“Manly has always been known to be resilient and have our backs against the wall and have that attitude that everyone is against us.
“We really use that to motivate us and I can see that being the case now.”
Ballin has given the Sea Eagles a boost ahead of Saturday’s game by re-signing with the club until the end of 2017.
