‘Grateful they let me back’: Lodge returns to US a decade after rampage

Las Vegas: Matt Lodge says he is grateful to be back in the United States a decade after being arrested at gunpoint and held in a New York prison over a violent home invasion.

The journeyman front-rower is in Las Vegas with the North Queensland Cowboys, his sixth NRL club since he began his career with Wests Tigers as a teenager in 2014.

Lodge, 30, was cleared by US authorities to enter the country despite having spent time in New York’s Rikers Island prison following an alcohol and prescription drug-induced rampage there in 2015 that left a family traumatised.

He threatened a German tourist on the street in the early hours of the morning, telling her “this is the night you’re going to die” before punching a man in the face and bursting into his Upper West Side apartment, smashing furniture as his partner and their nine-year-old hid in the bathroom.

Lodge escaped a prison sentence with a plea deal in which he had to complete community service and undertake treatment for alcohol abuse in Australia. He later reached a confidential settlement with the victims of the ordeal after they filed a civil action in the US.

Now a father of four, the Cowboys recruit said it was “a bit surreal” to be back in the country 11 years on from the incident.

“I probably didn’t think I’d be coming back to America, but, you know, I ticked all the boxes at the end of the day,” Lodge said after North Queensland’s first training session in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning Australian time.

“If it was going to affect the team in any way, I told them I was happy just playing round two, but they wanted me to come and went through all the processes, and here we are.”

Lodge arrived in the US last week, two days before the rest of Todd Payten’s squad.

He was on the books at Manly when the Sea Eagles played in Las Vegas in 2024, but did not make the trip because he was recovering from knee surgery.

Lodge told reporters his past still followed him, but coming back to the US finally “probably gives me a bit of closure”.

“I’m grateful that they let me back here. I’m probably a different person than when I came 11 years ago,” he said.

“I’ve got four kids at home, and I think I was 18 when it happened. I had a fake ID, and I was over here for a footy trip. It was a mistake. I wish it didn’t happen, but it did, and I’ve just got to get on with it.”

Lodge said the Cowboys had been supportive of him while aware of the publicity his return to the US would generate.

He joined the club on a one-year contract after playing 12 NRL games for Manly last season, having also spent time at the Broncos, Warriors, and Roosters over the past eight years.

The veteran adds depth and experience to Payten’s forward pack as the Cowboys look to improve on a 12th-placed finish in 2025.

“Big Lodgey, he’s been great for the group … strange cat, but we all love him,” said Cowboys hooker Reed Mahoney, another new arrival in Townsville.

“I’m actually his [roommate] … honestly, I don’t know how he has four kids because I’m looking after him. He’s been great for us, and he’s well-experienced in the NRL, so he’s going to be a great addition to our team.”

The Cowboys will take on the Newcastle Knights in the first of two NRL round-one games at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium this weekend.