Dubbo’s Andrew Ryan will be hoping for the sweet smell of victory when he plays his 200th NRL game on Saturday.
However the Canterbury Bulldogs captain won’t have the luxury of running out on in front of his home fans, with the milestone match scheduled for Brookvale Oval against the Manly Sea Eagles.
At 29, Ryan said he was lucky to have played so much top grade football, and was looking forward to celebrating the occasion with family and friends after the game.
“The fact it will be my 200th is a bit of a spin out,” Ryan said.
“It is a great thing. I would be over the moon to just play one first grade game, so I have been very lucky to be able to play 200.”
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“It would’ve been nice to play it at home, but at least it is close by and not somewhere like New Zealand.”
Ryan said he was looking forward to sharing a few drinks with family and after the match.
“The majority of my family and friends are coming down for the game,” he said.
“We’ll be heading back to the leagues club afterwards for a couple of beers.
“It will be tough against Manly at home, but hopefully we can come away with the points.
“They are a quality outfit with a massive forward pack and are coming off a good win against Parramatta last week.”
Ryan chose to ignore midweek claims from Manly chief executive Grant Mayer that the Bulldogs had lost their intimidating aura after losing Willie Mason and Mark O’Meley.
“His comments aren’t a concern to me,” Ryan said.
“We know we have the potential to go through and win games as long as everyone in the squad is prepared every week.
“We have drifted in and out of some games this season and are searching for a bit of consistency.
“We played well against the Dragons (30-18 win) last week but then we dropped off and almost let them back in the game.”
The Bulldogs are sitting middle of the table equal with eight other teams, including the Sea Eagles, on six competition points.
Meanwhile, the emergence of a stack of form backrowers in the NRL has put Ryan’s representative future under serious threat.
Ryan has been a mainstay of representative football in the recent season, playing 11 Tests for Australia and making 12 State of Origin appearances for NSW, including all three games last year.
But he could find himself on the outer this season with his considerably-younger rivals - Cronulla’s Greg Bird (24) and Paul Gallen (26) and the Gold Coast’s Anthony Laffranchi (27) - all pushing their claims.
Throw in the likes Mason, Nathan Hindmarsh, Ryan Hoffman and Anthony Tupou, and Ryan is seemingly out of the frame for next month’s Centenary Test and facing an uphill battle to hold on to his Origin spot.
“There’s a million backrowers around at the moment, so I’m not too concerned about that at this stage,” Ryan said .