Matty Ballin

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Killer03

Bencher
A bit of talk on here about Matty Ballin and his contract and what happens next. Didn't he state that once he sees out his contract (does it finish end of this year or next?) that he would retire?

Not wanting to start rumours, but I'm certain I read that somewhere.....which of course means its probably made up.

And as for his value to the team.....absolutely immense. I hope young Hodges is sitting under his wing learning everything he can from him, because his game is so different to Matty's. Hodges has a tonne of flair (which is great), but if he can take on board Matty's attributes (80mins player, tackling machine, selfless, always there, Mr Reliable) we will be in good hands going forward.
 
Ballin is so classy. No nonsense off the park. Gives off a feeling he wants to be here. He is the type of player that attracts fans to teams.
 
Matty is a unsung hero, could have played more than 2 origins.
Hodges is dynamic player, still learning however.
 
An under rated part of his game is his service from dummy half. Our halves are able to capitalise on opportunities because of the quality ball they get and the selflessness of his play. Other hookers who think about themselves first would deny plenty of good attacking opportunities. Monas was great for us when he went to dummy half in 07. He had a great year, but we won the premiership and Ox won the Dally M when Matty B came into the team. Hugely underrated.
 
Ballins Defence in doing so much of that work that goes unnoticed until he was injured.
50 tackles every week is hard to replace
 
He runs his own personal fitness joint somewhere on the Northern Beaches I'm pretty sure, with his partner.
I've always had a feeling that once his playing career is done he'll shift to the coaching staff, he's more than capable. Perhaps him and Donny Singe can form the ultimate training coaches partnership?
From memory he is off contract at the end of this season. I'd think he's still got 2016 in him, but if he signs on for one more year then he'll definitely be splitting time with Hodges.
I'm not sure what everyone's opinion of Hodges is but from what I've seen of his time in first grade I'm stoked with him. His attitude seems great too, not many young hookers would come to a club with an established hooker fully prepared to wait a few years for a first grade spot.
 
Besides all of the above, it's nice to have confidence that he is one player you wont read about being drunk somewhere/doing something stupid/touching things he shouldn't etc
 
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Besides all of the above, it's nice to have confidence that he is one player you wont read about being drunk somewhere/doing something stupid/touching things he shouldn't etc

And the added bonus of always giving 100% & the top tackler every time he is on the field.
I think if he didn't get injured last year ,the premiership was ours..
 
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And the added bonus of always giving 100% & the top tackler every time he is on the field.
I think if he didn't get injured last year ,the premiership was ours..

Or close to that. Hodges had a couple of pivotal plays where fair enough, he thought they would come off (and some did like the try against the Dogs) but Ballin just gives that steadying play where if he's there against the Dogs, I don't think they get such a big start...
 
Ballins Defence in doing so much of that work that goes unnoticed until he was injured.
50 tackles every week is hard to replace

I was worried about missing the 50 tackles per week but when Hodges came in he made 52 in his first game. His defence isn't as good as Matty B's but it's not all that far off, not bad for 21. 26 rounds may prove a bit harder but preference would be to have him come off the bench in his first full year (like Matty B did)

Its his service that needs to improve to get him up to NRL standard
 
I thought hodges was good, but that No.9 is firmly MBs till he reitres.

I think in his last season it would be nice to rotate MB with Hodges to give hodges some good minutes in the NRL.
 
I agree that Hodges has a place in the 17, as an attacking weapon during periods when we need to score points. But Matt is our tackling machine. Without him our defence would suffer greatly. This season we are without Choc, who did more than his fair share of tackling, so our big signing recruits will have to be good in defence. I'm not sure that's the strong point of Potato or Big Willie.
We will be able to score points; whether our defence is as good as previous seasons is the issue.
 
I was worried about missing the 50 tackles per week but when Hodges came in he made 52 in his first game. His defence isn't as good as Matty B's but it's not all that far off, not bad for 21. 26 rounds may prove a bit harder but preference would be to have him come off the bench in his first full year (like Matty B did)

Its his service that needs to improve to get him up to NRL standard
Service and decision making. Still a bit rogue - likes to try it himself instead of deferring to those who are... better...
 
I thought hodges was good, but that No.9 is firmly MBs till he reitres.

I think in his last season it would be nice to rotate MB with Hodges to give hodges some good minutes in the NRL.

I am not suggesting Hodges replaces Ballin but I think a bench spot would work well.

Although Ballin plays 80 minutes, if given a breather and 60 minutes a match then he plays better in both attack and defence (moreso his attach). Add Mateo into the mix with improved second phase play then there is a strong case for Hodges on the bench especially given we often have a forward who plays less that 20 minutes anyway which is wasting a spot.
 
If only Journo's were not so bitter and would try to promote the good of footy instead of trying to be the most feared, or publish the most click bait worthy rubbish....we'd see more articles like this one:

http://www.seaeagles.com.au/news/2015/02/03/ballin_eyeing_world_.html

Sea Eagles ironman Matt Ballin has set himself a rather unusual goal for the new year. Unlike most NRL players, for Manly’s tackling machine it doesn’t involve a rugby league ball or a single tackle.

The Sea Eagles hooker is on an inspiring mission to conquer 10 mountains in 12 months in a bid to challenge both his physical and mental resilience.


-rather than a willie mason non story.

Being here for a while....it's completely understandable no one heard of J.Hayne. Amateurish b/s pervades the nrl in so many aspects.
 
When we bought our place one of the old fellas living there told me Ballin used to live there and got him to step in for his old man at one of the games where the players came out with their dads - he was getting a bit teary. Just seems like a very cut and dried good guy Ballin.

Also interesting that a "leader" like Mason gets in the papers for stuffing around with his bro (which we can all admit was blown out of proportion and nothing, but still probably occurred after a few sherbets), but Ballin is off hiking mountains to push himself. Which one sounds like a model pro athlete?
 
Ballin should be held up as a role model, I've met so many of these player, and just generally lots of people but Ballin has always stood out as just a good guy, he has that air about him and it shows in everything he does, people like that will always be winners through hard work and ethics and he has both in spades. I won't go into the story as I am sick of typing it but one of my many nephews, who is more interested in surfing than breathing, met ballin when he was younger and that turned him into a life long manly fan and is hero.

Ballin is a legend who deserves more praise and respect than he gets just a champ and will go down as one of my all time great manly players
 

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