Matthew Ridge

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Matthew John Ridge
Born
Tuesday, 27th August, 1968
Current Age
55 years and 205 days
Place Of Birth
Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Awards & Accolades

Dally M Fullback Of The Year
1995

Biography

Deadly-accurate goal-kicker came from NZ 's junior All Black ranks to play with Manly in 1990. Ridge impressed immediately at fullback and within six first grade matches, he was playing for NZ in a qualifying World Cup match against Great Britain. One of the most consistent goal-kickers in the competition, Ridge also proved his value as a talented attacking player and safe defender. A knee injury sidelined him for half of the 1993 season but he returned to the game, scoring a club record 257pts (11t, 106g, 1fg) in 1995. Ridge was one of two Manly players to immediately link with Super League (the other being Ian Roberts) and despite playing for a club regarded as an ARL stronghold, he was openly critical of the code's controlling body. After captaining NZ in its unsuccessful World Cup campaign, Ridge chose to sit out the early part of the 1996 season after the planned Super League competition was put on hold but returned to the Sea Eagles after nine rounds. Despite his stance, Ridge was an unqualified match-winner, scoring a club record-equalling 30pts (2t, 11g) in a match against Wests. After playing a major role in the club’s grand final win over St George, he joining Auckland in 1997. After missing the early rep matches because of injury, Ridge captained NZ in a Super League Test match late in the year. In 1998 Ridge captained the Kiwis in two further Test matches, including the 22-16 win in the ANZac Test against Australia. Ridge too often showed his frustration regarding the Warriors’ lack of competitiveness during his three seasons with club but over-stepped the mark in 1999 when he was suspended for a total of 12 weeks for ‘man-handling’ a referee and ‘roughing up’ the face of an opposing player. He retired in February 2000 as the greatest point-scorer in NZ Test history (168pts – 6t, 71g, 2fg) and was part of Auckland’s new administration team until the Graham Lowe-led consortium folded at the end of season.
- 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 %  
NRL 159 40 580   11 1331 103 53 3 64.78% List
Tour Matches New Zealand 14 4 44   1 105 11 2 1 78.57% List
Test Series 17 3 49   1 111 11 5 1 64.71% List
World Cup 6 2 23   1 55 5 1 0 83.33% List
NRL Finals 11 1 24   - 52 6 5 0 54.55% List
Tooheys Challenge Cup 1 - 6   - 12 0 1 0 0.00% List
Anzac Tests 1 - 3   - 6 1 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
New Zealand 1990, 1992, 1994-98 25 6 71   2 168 16 8 1 64.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
New Zealand 1990, 1992, 1995 6 2 23   1 55 5 1 0 83.33% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly NSWRL 1990 11 2 43 / 57 75.44% - 94 8 3 0 72.73% List
Manly NSWRL 1991 22 6 79 / 96 82.29% 2 184 13 8 1 59.09% List
Manly NSWRL 1992 16 1 50 / 66 75.76% 3 107 9 6 1 56.25% List
Manly NSWRL 1993 10 - 25 / 35 71.43% 2 52 6 4 0 60.00% List
Manly NSWRL 1994 23 5 106 / 132 80.30% 2 234 16 6 1 69.57% List
Manly ARL 1995 23 11 106 / 129 82.17% 1 257 21 2 0 91.30% List
Manly ARL 1996 17 7 68 / 84 80.95% 1 165 14 3 0 82.35% List
Auckland Super League 1997 9 3 18 / 22 81.82% - 48 4 5 0 44.44% List
Auckland NRL 1998 18 2 51 / 63 80.95% - 110 7 11 0 38.89% List
Auckland NRL 1999 10 3 34 / 39 87.18% - 80 5 5 0 50.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly 1990-96 122 32 477 / 599 79.63% 11 1093 87 32 3 71.31% List
Auckland 1997-99 37 8 103 / 124 83.06% - 238 16 21 0 43.24% List
Overall1990-1999 159 40 580 / 723 80.22% 11 1,331 103 53 3 64.78% List

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, AJ Lucantonio, Terry Liberopoulos, Max Turner, Greg Fiveash, Paul Carter, Alan Katzmann, Steven Russo

Sources: NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1999, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2000, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1991-92, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1997