Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Born
- Sunday, 1st July, 1951
- Current Age
- 72 years and 271 days
Biography
Manly junior was graded as a 16-year-old in 1967. A compact five-eighth/lock with an enormously high workrate, Martin played his first grand final in 1970 and was on hand to win consecutive premierships with the club in 1972-73. A bone-jarring tackler for his size, he represented NSW Colts in 1972 but higher rep honours eluded him during his career. Martin spent the 1975 season as captain-coach of Sawtell on the North Coast (representing NSW Country) before resuming his career with Manly. He went on to play in the club's grand final win over P’matta in 1976 and was first choice to replace Bob Fulton as captain the following year. A falling out with coach Frank Stanton saw him replaced as club captain by Max Krilich but Martin continued to produce his best for the club. His last match for Manly was as lock in the 16-0 win over Cronulla in the grand final replay in 1978 – his fourth premiership success with the club.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
Competition | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Craven Mild Cup | 16 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 62.50% | List | ||||
NRL | 159 | 34 | - | - | 102 | 115 | 40 | 4 | 72.33% | List | ||||
NRL Finals | 20 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 45.00% | List | ||||
National Panasonic Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
City vs Country Firsts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | NSW Country | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
NSW Firsts | 1972 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NSW City Seconds | 1973-74 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Country Firsts | 1975 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Country | 1975 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1972-1975 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 60.00% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1969 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1970 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1971 | 24 | 6 | - | - | 18 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 79.17% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1972 | 24 | 4 | - | - | 12 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 83.33% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1973 | 24 | 9 | - | - | 27 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 79.17% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1974 | 23 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 60.87% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1976 | 22 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 77.27% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1977 | 17 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 64.71% | List | |||
Manly | NSWRFL 1978 | 17 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 58.82% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Manly | 1969-74, 1976-78 | 159 | 34 | - | - | 102 | 115 | 40 | 4 | 72.33% | List |
Contributions:
Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Alan Katzmann, Paul Carter, AJ Lucantonio
Your Say
13/10/2011
A lot of people rate terry randall as one of the toughest players to lace a boot,this bloke was just as tough.
14/09/2012
ian was my favorite player growing up he was tough and talented and in my opinion one of the best players to have not played 4 australia
16/09/2012
In my mind still the best ankle tackler I have seen and a tireless and very tough player.
My recollection is that he actually captained the 1975 Country firsts team in their upset win over a star-studded city team.
And four premiership wins; a great career.
20/10/2012
when we arrived at dee why in 1968 from norway.at aged 6 ,i went to brooky oval and saw one of the greatest footy players play.to this day i say ian martin provided the space some of his more noted outside backs got.ian martin was the reason me and my friends went to brooky every week.full stop
26/10/2012
The greatest player never to play for Australia. Martin 's workrate was phenomenal and 4 premierhips Al's. A true Manly legend
27/03/2014
Ian Martin very good player with a deviating knee snapping tackle and mostly kept the great bob Fulton at inside centre.
18/06/2014
I remember watching Ian play u18s for forest union. He was brilliant. Inspired me to stay long term with forest
16/08/2014
great player in any era, 15/10 for toughness.
deserved more rep jumpers as recognition for sustained quality in an era of toughness and champions
17/10/2014
I PLAYED WITH HIM AND AGAINST HIM.
THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF HIS TIME.
22/04/2018
Ian also played for Warren ,a country town of NSW..
22/04/2018
He also played for Warren NSW.
14/08/2019
Watched Ian Martin from 1969 through his career with manly until 1978. Just one of the best Manly players in the 1970s.
and my top 3 players of Dennis Ward and John McDonald. Why he never was selected to play for Australia was an injustice.
I would say that he is a major reason why Manly won 4 titles.
Well done Ian.
01/11/2019
I went to Kindergarten and Narraweena Primary School with Ian. He always wanted to play Rugby League in the Playground, even as a very small a child. Our Families knew each other in the Neighbourhood and hung out together. He had two older Brothers I remember as nice blokes.
The best 5/8 never to have played for Australia.
25/07/2021
An old Primary School mate at Narraweena PS and Neighbor, Isn was often referred to as the “best 5/8 never to play for Australia. Brilliant Player who unfortunately played his best football under the shadow of Bob Fulton.
14/06/2023
Yeah, played with him at crim hill. The best in attack and defence. Always did the hard yards for noddy when he played grade. Good man.
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