Ian Martin

  • Playing Career

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


Representative

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
Overall1972-1975 5 1 0   0 3 3 2 0 60.00% List


Club Career

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

Your Say

  • John McDonald
    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.

  • Anonymous
    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

  • chris gow
    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.

  • glenn svenoy
    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

  • Anonymous
    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

  • Anonymous
    27/03/2014

    Ian Martin very good player with a deviating knee snapping tackle and mostly kept the great bob Fulton at inside centre.

  • Rob parsons
    18/06/2014

    I remember watching Ian play u18s for forest union. He was brilliant. Inspired me to stay long term with forest

  • JP
    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

  • Anonymous
    17/10/2014

    I PLAYED WITH HIM AND AGAINST HIM.
    THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF HIS TIME.

  • Anonymous
    22/04/2018

    Ian also played for Warren ,a country town of NSW..

  • Anonymous
    22/04/2018

    He also played for Warren NSW.

  • Phil Durrant
    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.

  • Bob Davidson
    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.

  • Anonymous
    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.

  • Mark
    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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Contributions: Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Alan Katzmann, Paul Carter, AJ Lucantonio