Introduction
Ryan Matterson (born 13 October 1994) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row, five-eighth and centre for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.
He previously played for the Sydney Roosters, with whom he won the 2018 NRL Grand Final and the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. Matterson has also played for the City Origin side.
Background
Matterson was born in Greenacre, New South Wales, Australia. He is the nephew of former Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos player Terry Matterson.
Matterson played his junior rugby league for the Wentworthville Magpies and Bankstown Bulls, before being signed by the Parramatta Eels.
Playing career
Early career
From 2012 to 2014, Matterson played for the Parramatta Eels' NYC team. In 2014, he captained the side. On 3 May 2014, he played for the New South Wales under-20s team against the Queensland under-20s team. On 26 June 2014, he re-signed with the Eels on a 3-year contract. On 18 October 2014, he played for the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis. In 2015, he graduated to Eels' New South Wales Cup team, Wentworthville Magpies. In August 2015, he signed a 2-year contract with the Sydney Roosters starting in 2016.
2016
In Round 8 of the 2016 NRL season, Matterson made his NRL debut for the Roosters against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, scoring a try. On 8 May, he played for NSW City against NSW Country, after just two NRL appearances, playing at centre and taking an intercept to set up a try, before scoring one himself in the second half of City's 44-30 victory.
2017
Matterson made 23 appearances for Easts in 2017 as the club fell short of a grand final appearance losing to North Queensland in the preliminary final 29-16.
2018
In 2018, Matterson was part of the Easts side which won their 4th minor premiership in 6 years.On 30 September, Matterson played in Easts 21-6 victory over Melbourne in the 2018 NRL grand final.This would be the final appearance for Matterson as an Eastern Suburbs player as he had signed a three year deal to join the Wests Tigers starting in 2019.
2019
Matterson made his debut for the Wests Tigers in round 1 of the 2019 NRL season against Manly-Warringah at Leichhardt Oval.
Matterson scored his first try for the club in round 4 against Penrith which the Wests Tigers lost 9-8.
Matterson made a total of 24 appearances for the club in the 2019 NRL season as they finished ninth and missed out on the finals.On September 19, Matterson was granted leave from training for the final part of the year due to personal reasons.
Having been granted a release from the Wests Tigers on October 31, Matterson then signed a three-year deal with the Parramatta Eels, his junior club, on November 7.
2020
On 3 February, Matterson spoke to the media for the first time since joining Parramatta and apologised publicly to supporters of the Wests Tigers club saying "To all the fans out there I'm sorry for how it happened, I do say sorry to them and I understand their frustrations but it was kind of out of my control, "I don't sign contracts to purposefully want to leave. Something did happen at the Tigers, and I'm sorry that happened so with the intention of signing with Parramatta, I do want to stay here permanently and long-term and really enjoy my football.I was frustrated when it was perceived [to be] about money. It wasn't. That just wasn't the case".
Matterson made his debut for Parramatta in round 1 of the 2020 NRL season against arch rivals Canterbury-Bankstown.Parramatta would go on to win the match 8-2.
In round 5 of the 2020 NRL season, Matterson scored the winning try for Parramatta as the club defeated Penrith 16-10.The result saw Parramatta win their first five games of the year which was their best start to a season since 1986.