Terry Matterson

Terry Matterson

Personal information
Born	(1967-03-04) 4 March 1967 Auburn, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Lock
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1986–87 Easts (Sydney) 10 0 1 0 2 1988–95 Brisbane Broncos 156 29 314 0 744 1995–98 London Broncos 74 23 116 6 330 Total 240 52 431 6 1076 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1989 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2005–11 Castleford Tigers 148 58 4 86 39 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2013–14 USA 6 3 0 3 50
Source: NRL Stats,

Terry Matterson (born 4 March 1967 in Auburn, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league football coach and former player. He was the coach for the Castleford Tigers of Europe's Super League between 2005 and 2011 and is currently the head coach of the USA from October 2013.

As a player Matterson was a goal-kicking lock forward and was selected to represent New South Wales in State of Origin once in 1989. He played the majority of his club football for the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 1992 and 1993 premierships, in addition to stints with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters and London Broncos clubs.

Playing

After playing at five-eighth for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Matterson moved to Brisbane to be part of the Broncos' inaugural 1988 team. Playing at lock and being the team's goal-kicker, Matterson scored 24 points in the Broncos' first ever match in the opening round of 1988 against the previous year's premiers, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. This would stand as the record for most individual points in a Broncos game for over fourteen years.

In 1989 Matterson represented New South Wales in the State of Origin, playing against many of his Broncos' teammates. He was also named player of the series for the 1989 Panasonic Cup tournament.

Matterson went on to play in the Broncos' inaugural grand final victory in 1992. In the weeks following the grand final he travelled with the Broncos to England, where he played at lock forward in the 1992 World Club Challenge against British champions Wigan, putting in a man-of-the-match performance to help Brisbane become the first NSWRL club to win the match in Britain. Matterson helped Brisbane to their second consecutive premiership in 1993.

Matterson joined the London Broncos in 1995. At the time he was the Brisbane club's top point-scorer, as well as record-holder of most points scored in a single match.

During the 2007 season at the Brisbane Broncos' 20-year anniversary celebration, the club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Matterson. Matterson also was inducted into the Brisbane Broncos official Hall of Fame.

Coaching

Terry Matterson has been coaching English Super League club Castleford Tigers since 2005.

Matterson expressed interest in taking over from Wayne Bennett as coach of the Brisbane Broncos at the end of the 2008 National Rugby League season.[1]

Matterson stayed with Castleford after they were relegated in 2006. He guided the team straight back up to regain its place in Super League

Matterson has since signed a new 3-year deal to stay at Castleford.

Matterson guided Cas to 7th place in Super League 2009. The club's first play off finish since 2002. They faced Wigan at the DW Stadium and lost 18-12 with Joe Westerman scoring 8 points.

Pressure grew on Matterson during 2010 after the tigers lost to Barrow Raiders at home in the challenge cup. Several hundred supporters gathered at the back of the main stand and vented frustration at Matterson and the clubs board. Matterson and the team went on a rough patch but turned it around and only just missed out on a second play off appearance in two years by losing out to St. Helens in the final league game of the season.

Matterson will be hoping to improve Castleford further in 2011 which will be his last season with the club.

In 2011, Matterson was named as the assistant coach of the Exiles, a team made up of Australian and New Zealand players contracted to Super League clubs. The Exiles played against the England national rugby league team in June 2011 in the Rugby League International Origin Match, a fixture that is intended to become an annual contest in the future. Matterson will be assisting the Head coach of the RL Exiles, Brian McClennan.

Matterson announced on 4 July 2011 that it will be his last season at Castleford and he will leave the club at the end of that year. This will have taken him to 6 years at the Castleford club. Matterson will go back home to Australia to become assistant coach of the North Queensland Cowboys for 2012.

For their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign, the United States national rugby league team appointed Matterson as coach for the tournament.

Personal

In January 2010, Matterson lost his left ring finger in a training accident where his wedding ring snagged on a fence. Surgery to re-attach the finger was unsuccessful, however Matterson seemed unaffected by the trauma, continuing to coach Castleford the next week.

His older brother Greg Matterson is the head coach of New South Wales Cup side Newtown Jets.

Terry is also King of Friends with Scottish Rugby Coaching guru James Robertson.

References

• Phil Wilkinson. "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week (18 July 2007). Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia: pgs 22–23. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help)

External links

• Terry Matterson at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk
• Terry Matterson stats at rugbyleagueproject.com
• Matterson named new Tigers coach - article at news.bbc.co.uk
• Terry Matterson at yesterdayshero.com.au
• Terry Matterson at nrlstats.com