Robbie Kearns

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Sunday, 12th December, 1971
Current Age
52 years and 98 days
Place Of Birth
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Cronulla junior was one of the Western Reds’ star signings for 1996, the club’s second season in the ARL competition. Kearns was used as a reserve for NSW in the final of Super League’s Tri-Series competition in 1997 and was chosen as a reserve in the First Test against Great Britain at the end of the year. With the Perth club folding at the end of 1997 Kearns joined fellow prop Rodney Howe at Melbourne for the Storm’s debut season. Ironically, Kearns came into the third State of Origin match in 1998 following the sacking of Howe after his Storm team-mate failed a drug test. Melbourne’s run to the preliminary final propelled Kearns into the Australian Test team at the end of the year, where he made two appearances against NZ in October. Chosen in the second row in Australia’s 20-14 ANZac Test victory 1999 should have been a watershed year for the tough prop but injury and bad luck conspired to ruin his season. Chosen in NSW’s State of Origin team Kearns suffered a broken collarbone when thrown from a horse in a ‘team bonding session’ during the Blues’ camp and subsequently missed the series. Returning to the field a corked thigh kept him out of Melbourne’s victorious grand final team and Australia’s Tri-series success. In 2000 Kearns returned to his best form - playing prop in the Blues’ whitewash of Queensland and appearing in Test matches against NZ and Papua New Guinea and in Australia’s victorious World Cup squad. In England Kearns played in all six matches of the competition including the 40-14 win over NZ in the final. A rib injury kept Kearns out of the last two matches of the State of Origin series in 2001 and the Australian Test team that beat NZ in July. Despite Melbourne’s failure to make the semi-finals he was named in Australia’s forward pack on the 2001 Kangaroo Tour. After playing in the warm-up Test against Papua New Guinea, Kearns appeared in all three Tests on the Ashes tour. Kearns rep career seemed to winding down, especially after he was stripped of the Storm captaincy by coach Mark Murray in 2002, but his highly-consistent form saw him again selected for NSW in 2003. The veteran prop returned to the Australian team for the one-off Test against NZ in July and made his international swansong on the 2003 Kangaroo Tour in which he played in all three Tests (it was Kearns who was hit in a high tackle that led to the dismissal of Great Britain forward Adrian Morley in the First Test of the series). Kearns announced his retirement as a player at the end of the 2005 season.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Additional Notes

Junior Club: Engadine Dragons

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 282 31 2   - 128 145 132 5 51.42% List
NRL Finals 11 - -   - - 4 7 0 36.36% List
Test Series 9 1 -   - 4 7 2 0 77.78% List
State of Origin 8 - -   - - 5 3 0 62.50% List
Anzac Tests 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
World Club Challenge 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 6 1 -   - 4 6 0 0 100.00% List
World Cup 6 - -   - - 6 0 0 100.00% List
The Ashes 6 - -   - - 5 1 0 83.33% List
City vs Country 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia (SL) 1997 3 1 -   - 4 2 1 0 66.67% List
Australia 1998-01, 2003 20 - -   - - 18 2 0 90.00% List
Overall1997-2003 23 1 0   0 4 20 3 0 86.96% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1998-2000 6 - -   - - 6 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW (SL) 1997 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW 1998, 2000-01, 2003 8 - -   - - 5 3 0 62.50% List
NSW City 2002-03 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1997-2003 11 0 0   0 - 8 3 0 72.73% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla NSWRL 1992 21 3 2 / 3 66.67% - 16 8 13 0 38.10% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1993 22 4 -   - 16 9 13 0 40.91% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1994 19 1 -   - 4 10 9 0 52.63% List
Cronulla ARL 1995 14 1 -   - 4 9 5 0 64.29% List
Western Reds ARL 1996 19 2 -   - 8 5 13 1 26.32% List
Western Reds Super League 1997 18 2 -   - 8 7 11 0 38.89% List
Melbourne NRL 1998 26 4 -   - 16 17 8 1 65.38% List
Melbourne NRL 1999 13 2 -   - 8 10 3 0 76.92% List
Melbourne NRL 2000 24 2 -   - 8 13 10 1 54.17% List
Melbourne NRL 2001 23 1 -   - 4 9 13 1 39.13% List
Melbourne NRL 2002 13 3 -   - 12 6 6 1 46.15% List
Melbourne NRL 2003 23 2 -   - 8 15 8 0 65.22% List
Melbourne NRL 2004 22 2 -   - 8 13 9 0 59.09% List
Melbourne NRL 2005 25 2 -   - 8 14 11 0 56.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla 1992-95 76 9 2 / 3 66.67% - 40 36 40 0 47.37% List
Western Reds 1996-97 37 4 -   - 16 12 24 1 32.43% List
Melbourne 1998-05 169 18 -   - 72 97 68 4 57.40% List
Overall1992-2005 282 31 2 / 3 66.67% 0 128 145 132 5 51.42% List

Your Say

Want to have your say about this player? Add a comment.

Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Alan Katzmann, Greg Fiveash, Terry Liberopoulos, Steven Russo, Max Turner, AJ Lucantonio, Cymru RL, Bill Bates

Sources: ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2001, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2002, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2003, NRL 2004 Official Rugby League Annual, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2000, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2004, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1999, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995