Matthew Rieck
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Matthew Rieck (born April 8, 1980 in Penrith, NSW) is an Australian rugby league player. He currently plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League competition in Australia; and previously played for the Cronulla Sharks and the Penrith Panthers His position of choice is Wing.
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[edit] Playing career
Originally starting out with junior club the St. Clair Comets playing 148 games in total for them and reaching the hundred game mark sometime during the 1995 season.
After some impressive performances for the club matched with his impressive pace and skill of continually finding the try line he was snapped up by the Penrith Panthers.
[edit] Penrith Panthers
Matthew made his first grade debut for the panthers in the 1999 season in the round 11 clash against the Newcastle Knights at Penrith Stadium on May 16. It took him until round 15 that year until he could finally rack up his first points for the club in round 15 against the New Zealand Warriors where he scored twice.
In total Matthew Rieck played three seasons for the Panthers tallying up a total of eight tries in a limited number of opportunities.
[edit] Cronulla Sharks
In 2002 with Chris Anderson taking the reigns as the new coach at the Cronulla Sharks he quickly snapped up Rieck from the Penrith Panthers after witnessing the blistering pace that he had.
Rieck made his Sharks debut in round 1 of 2002 against long time rivals the St George Illawarra Dragons. He scored once opening his Cronulla try tally and also winning the game for the Sharks in the final minutes making him somewhat of a zero turned hero after a below average rest of the game. He made a total of 16 tries for the season which capped off an impressive start for his new club.
2003 was a year of up and downs for Rieck, at times he looked brilliant but more often that not simple mistakes and poor ball handling cost him and his team at several times throughout the season. Injuries (particularly with his hamstring) also started to become more frequent for Rieck and he missed several regular season games. All of this meant Rieck only scored a total of 8 tries for his second season at the Sharks.
The 2004 season become Riecks last at the Cronulla Sharks as Stuart Raper took over from Chris Anderson towards the end of the season. Injuries continued to plague him and somewhat of a mass re-building of the players at the club took place and it was made known Rieck was surplus to Rapers requirements. In total for his last season at the Sharks he scored 10 times in a mere 15 appearances; also racking up a record in reserves scoring five times in a single game.
[edit] Wests Tigers
Matthew was signed by the Wests Tigers at the beginning of the 2005 NRL season. He began the season by playing in the lower grades at the club but was eventually called up to first grade during the middle of the season for six games in which he scored three times.
A rumoured falling out with Tigers head coach Tim Sheens saw him drop back into the lower grades where he has remained since.
[edit] Playing Statistics
- Has scored 168 points made up from 42 career tries
- Scored 3 tries in a match on two occasions (v. Knights & Roosters)
