Jarrod McCracken

C’bury went to great lengths to secure the services of this fiery NZ centre in 1991. The son of former NZ Test winger Ken McCracken and a Junior Kiwis’ captain McCracken came to Australia to play with Norths in 1989 but spent the year in the clubs’ lower grades. He left Norths for Port Macquarie in 1990 where he represented North Coast against France. McCracken was playing in a local grand final when he was spotted by Bulldogs’ secretary Peter Moore who had travelled north to check out McCracken's team-mate Rex Terp. The NZ Rugby League tried to block McCracken’s move to C’bury to protect their future investment but Moore threatened legal action and the Kiwis backed off. McCracken made a huge impact in the centres during his first season but despite representing NZ in the three-Test series against Australia he received lengthy suspensions in club matches for biting and for a high tackle. McCracken came of age at C’bury, however, and he represented NZ in his second Trans Tasman series in 1993 although injuries ruled him out of the Kiwi tour of England and France. A member of the C’bury team that was soundly beaten in the 1994 grand final by Canberra he initially followed the club’s lead and signed with Super League in early 1995. In a major controversy at the time McCracken and three team-mates (Smith, Pay and Dymock) reneged on their contracts citing ‘unfair inducement’ to sign. While this ruling was subsequently upheld in court and McCracken signed a contract with the ARL coach Chris Anderson dropped all four players to reserve grade. While the club’s other ARL-aligned players fought their way back into C’bury’s first grand final winning team McCracken preferred to sit out the club’s semi-final campaign and missed winning a premiership title. Linking with P’matta the following year he moved into the forwards and captained the club in 1998. At international level he played in all three Tests against Australia in 1995 but missed the World Cup because of injury. McCracken represented the ‘Rest of the World’ in the ARL’s only Test match in the divided 1997 season but returned to the NZ team in the reunified 1998 season and played in all three Tests of the Trans Tasman series. In 1999 he was named NZ captain for the ANZac Test following an injury to Quentin Pongia but was ruled out of the Tri Nations competition at year’s end with an arm injury. In 2000 McCracken was named captain of the newly-merged W’Tigers but his career came to a crashing halt when he suffered a serious neck injury after being illegally dumped by opposing Melbourne forward (and former Kiwi Test team-mate) Steve Kearney in a club match. His 22 Test and ten-year Sydney career were over and McCracken moved to Townsville to develop his building business.

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 icon.

International
Test Matches - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
New Zealand	1991, 1993-95, 1998-99	22	5	-				-	20	9	10	3	40.91%
Overall	1991-1999	22	5	0				0	20	9	10	3	40.91%
International Matches - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Rest Of The World	1997	1	1	-				-	4	0	1	0	0.00%
Overall	1997	1	1	0				0	4	0	1	0	0.00%
World Cup Matches - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
New Zealand	1991	2	1	-				-	4	1	1	0	50.00%
Overall	1991	2	1	0				0	4	1	1	0	50.00%
Club Career
Australian League Matches - By Year
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Canterbury	NSWRL 1991	16	5	-				-	20	9	6	1	56.25%
Canterbury	NSWRL 1992	12	2	-				-	8	5	5	2	41.67%
Canterbury	NSWRL 1993	16	4	-				-	16	12	4	0	75.00%
Canterbury	NSWRL 1994	20	7	-				-	28	15	5	0	75.00%
Sydney Bulldogs	ARL 1995	16	6	-				-	24	10	6	0	62.50%
Parramatta	ARL 1996	13	6	-				-	24	5	8	0	38.46%
Parramatta	ARL 1997	21	7	-				-	28	12	9	0	57.14%
Parramatta	NRL 1998	18	1	-				-	4	13	4	1	72.22%
Parramatta	NRL 1999	23	2	-				-	8	16	7	0	69.57%
Wests Tigers	NRL 2000	8	1	-				-	4	4	3	1	50.00%
Overall	1991-2000	163	41	0				0	164	101	57	5	61.96%
Australian League Matches - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Canterbury	1991-95	80	24	-				-	96	51	26	3	63.75%
Parramatta	1996-99	75	16	-				-	64	46	28	1	61.33%
Wests Tigers	2000	8	1	-				-	4	4	3	1	50.00%
Overall	1991-2000	163	41	0				0	164	101	57	5	61.96%
Australian Finals Matches - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Canterbury	1991-1994	4	2	-				-	8	1	3	0	25.00%
Parramatta	1996-1999	7	-	-				-	-	3	4	0	42.86%
Overall	1993-1999	11	2	0				0	8	4	7	0	36.36%
English League Career - By Year
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
St Helens	Championship 1992/93	?	2	-				-	8
Overall	1992-1993	?	5	0				0	20	?	?	?	?
English League Career - By Team
Team	Years	App	T	G			GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
St Helens	1992-93	?	5	-				-	20	?	?	?	?
Overall	1992-1993	?	5	0				0	20	?	?	?	?

Last modified: Sun, 12 May 2013 10:07:51 +1000 (Sydney time)