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A prolific points-scorer, Ivan Cleary is the Warriors' main off-season acquisition. With the prospect of Matthew Ridge not playing at Ericsson in 2000, the club needed a goalkicking replacement. At the same time, Mark Graham wanted to stiffen up his centres. Cleary answered all needs. Ironically he now effectively replaces the player (Ridge) that stood in his way at Manly. Back then Cleary emerged as one of the game's most promising players when he was introduced by then-coach Graham Lowe in 1992. Had a strong second year at Brookvale filling Ridge's position for half of the season, finishing with 126 points from 13 appearances. Ridge's presence ultimately forced him to move to neighbouring North Sydney, only to find Jason Taylor blocked his chances of being a regular goalkicker there. So in 1996 he began a four-year stint with Sydney City, scoring 182 points that year and 194 the next before out-doing even Daryl Halligan in 1998 by tallying 284 points to top Michael Cronin's 20-year-old record for most points in a premiership season. Had a sketchy 1999 season when a hip injury restricted him to just nine appearances. Equally at home in the centres or at fullback and also has a handy tryscoring strike rate with 52 in 133 games.
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