Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Born
- Sunday, 1st July, 1951
- Current Age
- 74 years and 276 days
Honours & Awards
Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.
- City vs Country Firsts
- 1975
- NSWRFL Premiership (NRL)
- 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978
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
Additional Notes
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.
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Country Firsts | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Representative Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City vs Country Firsts | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Club Career - Australia | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) | 4 | 159 | 34 | - | - | 102 | 115 | 40 | 4 | 72.33% | List | ||||
| NSWRFL Finals | - | 20 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 45.00% | List | ||||
| Preseason Cup | - | 28 | 10 | - | - | 30 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 67.86% | List | ||||
| Midweek Cup | - | 4 | 1 | 0 | - | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||||
| First Class | 193 | 45 | 0 | - | 135 | 147 | 59 | 7 | 76.17% | List | |||||
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 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1972-1975 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 60.00% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - 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 | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - 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, Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner, Paul Carter, Tony McCarron, AJ Lucantonio
Your Say
13 Oct 2011 4:52pm
A lot of people rate terry randall as one of the toughest players to lace a boot,this bloke was just as tough.
14 Sep 2012 3:49pm
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 Sep 2012 2:15pm
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 Oct 2012 7:12am
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 Oct 2012 9:46pm
The greatest player never to play for Australia. Martin 's workrate was phenomenal and 4 premierhips Al's. A true Manly legend
27 Mar 2014 6:48pm
Ian Martin very good player with a deviating knee snapping tackle and mostly kept the great bob Fulton at inside centre.
18 Jun 2014 3:58pm
I remember watching Ian play u18s for forest union. He was brilliant. Inspired me to stay long term with forest
16 Aug 2014 6:08pm
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 Oct 2014 10:45pm
I PLAYED WITH HIM AND AGAINST HIM.
THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF HIS TIME.
22 Apr 2018 10:21pm
Ian also played for Warren ,a country town of NSW..
22 Apr 2018 10:23pm
He also played for Warren NSW.
14 Aug 2019 10:22pm
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.
1 Nov 2019 10:20pm
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 Jul 2021 10:41am
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 Jun 2023 11:41pm
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.
27 Aug 2024 5:08am
Will always be one of the first mentioned when talking of the Game's most underrated players.
He is the best player I ever got to play with and the fact that when he returned to Manly after two stints in Country Rugby League 1976 and 1978 it produced premierships.
One of only four players to play in four premierships wins for Manly.
29 Aug 2024 9:57am
Whey did he stop playing at 27 years old?
Seems to be common in that era.
31 Aug 2025 4:19pm
I remember Ian would get down low and and holding the ball against his chest he would present both forearms and bump off would be tacklers. Tough as they come. What an awesome team in the 70s the Sea Eagles were.
31 Aug 2025 10:50pm
I remember Ian would get down low and and holding the ball against his chest he would present both forearms and bump off would be tacklers. Tough as they come. What an awesome team in the 70s the Sea Eagles were.
1 Sep 2025 2:33pm
I remember Ian would get down low and and holding the ball against his chest he would present both forearms and bump off would be tacklers. Tough as they come. What an awesome team in the 70s the Sea Eagles were.
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