Matt Ballin
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Personal information
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| Full name | Matthew Ballin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
5 January 1984 Nanango, Queensland, Australia |
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| Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 88 kg (13 st 12 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Playing information
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| Position | Hooker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| As of 27 May 2016 Source: Rugby League Project, Herald Sun |
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Matthew Ballin (born 5 January 1984 in Nanango, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. He has played one game for Queensland in State of Origin. He plays at hooker and previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, with whom he won the 2008 and 2011 Premierships.
Although he was born in Nanango, Ballin grew up in Kingaroy and attended Kingaroy State High School where his father is the school Principal.
Matt Ballin played his junior football with the Kingaroy Red Ants, and although he played in the lower grades with the Brisbane Broncos, he did not play first grade for the club.
Ballin signed with Sydney based club Manly-Warringah and made his NRL debut in Round 2 of the 2007 NRL season when the Sea Eagles defeated the Wests Tigers 19-8 at Leichhardt Oval, scoring a try in his first grade debut.
He played in Manly's record breaking 40-0 victory over the Melbourne Storm in the 2008 NRL Grand Final where he was the games first try scorer.
Ballin played in the 2011 NRL Grand Final giving Ballin his second NRL premiership as a player.
Coming off contract at the end of season 2012, rumours were rampant that Ballin would be a casualty of Manly's post-premiership(s) salary cap pressures, with the Canberra Raiders the front runners to secure his signature. However, after the departure of test back rower Tony Williams to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Manly were able to re-sign Ballin, and Fullback Brett Stewart, to new long term contracts keeping them at the club until the end of the 2015 and 2016 seasons respectively, effectively ensuring both remain one-club players.
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