“I caught myself. It wasn’t the sea that got me, it was the fact that it went to the sexual part of my brain,” Ridge said.

Ridge said people now claim they knew he was a “meth head” at the time, but he stated no one did.

“I was doing television, I was going to work, I was a functional drug addict.

“I’d get up in the morning, go to work, have meetings and all that shit, but then I’d just hop on my bike. And that’s what saved me was riding, because I got so fit.”

Asked how he finally kicked his two-year addiction, Ridge said he was asked by New Zealand TV producer Julie Christie to do a show – which he thought was Fiji’s Treasure Island.

“So I stopped, because I can stop like that. I don’t have an addictive personality.”

Ridge said he returned from the seven-week show – during which he was drug-free – and producers showed him a picture of himself on the island.

“I had no light in my eyes. I looked like I was dead.

“I had to get rid of everything because I could see I was going down a dark path.”

Ridge has previously spoken about his struggles with addiction on his own podcast, The Brink Podcastand said his goal in doing so was to help others going through a similar situation who might feel embarrassed to talk about it.

During Between two beers podcast episode, Ridge also reflected on his three-year spell with the Auckland Warriors from 1997 to 1999, following a highly successful six-year career with the Manly Sea Eagles, saying he found it a “very tough” transition.

“I had super high standards and (had) come from the best team… I went back to a team that had no culture, no coach. (John) Monie was a, I’m sorry John, but he wasn’t a very good coach and he certainly wasn’t a good manager.

“It’s okay if you’re not a good coach, but you have to be either a manager or a technically very good coach.”

Ridge said he felt he was “pushed” into a role when he started coaching, but the other players wouldn’t listen.

“I regret going back to the Warriors,” Ridge asked before a long pause.

“No, because it made me resilient… and I met some really cool people.”

He went on to say that when he joined the Warriors, “the guys were cool, but they just weren’t tough enough.”

“They just didn’t have that mental toughness … and that’s why we’re still struggling today,” Ridge said.

“You have to clear the man of the dead wood, and the dead wood starts at the top. It’s not their coach, I think their coach is on the right track.

“But sorry … you guys who’ve been there for ages in those coaching roles and all that shit and all that shit, hey guys what have you been doing for 20 goddamn years,” Ridge said.

Ridge, who now lives in France, says his priority now is his two younger children.

“We went to France because I wanted my two little ones to speak the mother tongue, which they now do fluently.”

Show grades | Matthew Ridge

0:00 Seamus and the goods of Matthew Ridge

3:44 Reminiscing about 90’s rugby league

5:34 Developing mental resilience at a young age

10:23 Male models

14:27 A talented teenage athlete

19:15 The taxi incident

34:37 ​​Matthew Ridge and Zinzan Brooke

42:47 Entering the league with Manly at 21

48:29 Matthew and Mark

55:33 Carfe

59:55 The Brink and plus speaker

1:06:35 The power of storytelling

1:11:57 The controversial release of The Brink

1:15:51 Reflecting on parenting through relationship disruption

1:26:03 Matthew and Jaime

1:31:54 Tell the truth

1:33:12 Reflecting on the Warriors experience

1:40:25 France v New Zealand: Current Ridgey

1:44:38 Last words from Seamus, Steve and Ridgey