Andrew Ettingshausen

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Nickname(s)
ET
Born
Friday, 29th October, 1965
Current Age
58 years and 142 days
Place Of Birth
Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia

Awards & Accolades

Dally M Centre Of The Year
1994, 1996
Ken Stephen Medal
1999
National Rugby League Hall Of Fame
2008

Biography

Cronulla junior made his first grade debut while still at De La Salle High School in 1983. A strong, elusive centre, Ettingshausen's good looks and marketability never clouded the fact that he is also an extraordinary talent. ‘ET’ spent the 1986 off-season gaining experience with English club Leeds and was chosen to make his debut for NSW in 1987 alongside club centre partner Mark McGaw. A regular visitor to the State of Origin arena at fullback, wing or centre, his ability to burst out of tackles and his combination of strength and speed were seen to good effect, especially during the 1988 season when the Sharks were minor premiers. After playing for Leeds again in 1987-88 he made his debut for Australia on the wing in the Ashes series against Great Britain in 1988, and tours of France (1990), Great Britain (1990) and Papua New Guinea (1991) followed. Ettingshausen played in three series against NZ (1989, 1991 & 1993) and was fullback in the final two Tests against Great Britain in 1992. Injury saw him miss out on a place in Australia's victorious World Cup squad that year but he was again in the news when he was awarded $350,000 (reduced to $100,000 on appeal) after an indiscreet photo was published of him showering on the 1990 Kangaroo tour. Absent from the early rounds of the 1993 season after contracting malaria on a fishing trip to Papua New Guinea while filming a segment for a television program, he returned in superlative form to lead the way in Cronulla's spirited 1994 season - scoring a club record 18 tries and becoming the first clubman to top the century mark of tries. (He twice scored a club record five tries in a match and eventually finished his career second on the list of greatest try-scorers in the game). Ettingshausen had a busy rep season in 1994, playing for NSW and the one-off Test against France, before making his second Kangaroo tour. He played in all four Tests on tour and after capturing a hat-trick of tries in Australia's record 74-0 thrashing of France, became the first player since Bob Fulton in the 1970s to finish as top try-scorer on consecutive Kangaroo Tours. Ettingshausen forwent his rep career to play in the Super League competition (appearing in the only ‘grand final’ of his playing career when Cronulla lost to Brisbane in the Telstra Cup competition) but was back in favour with NSW selectors in the reunified 1998 season. Midway through the year, however, a serious back injury threatened to end his career. Announcing his retirement from rep duty in 1999 Ettingshausen became the first player to surpass 300 first grade games with the one club. (The Sharks subsequently named its grandstand in his honour). The end to his career came towards the end of the 2000 season when his back injury finally caught up with him and he missed the Sharks’ belated run into the semi-finals. ‘ET’ finished his career as the most durable player in the Cronulla club’s history – his eighteen seasons in first grade established a host of club records (most games, most tries, most State of Origin matches for NSW and most Test matches) and his 165 club tries places him second (behind Ken Irvine) on the list of the greatest try-scorers in the game’s history. He has since pursued a successful career in the media with FoxSports.
- ALAN WHITICKER

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 328 166 1   - 666 182 138 8 55.49% List
National Panasonic Cup 7 1 -   - 4 3 4 0 42.86% List
English Championship 29 25 -   - 100 19 10 0 65.52% List
Tour Matches Leeds Rhinos 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Regal Trophy 2 - -   - - 0 2 0 0.00% List
Challenge Cup 7 5 -   - 20 5 2 0 71.43% List
State of Origin 27 7 -   - 28 15 12 0 55.56% List
City vs Country 8 4 -   - 16 5 3 0 62.50% List
Tour Matches Australia 35 35 -   - 140 31 4 0 88.57% List
Test Series 19 3 -   - - 13 6 0 68.42% List
The Ashes 12 3 -   - 24 8 4 0 66.67% List
World Cup 7 4 -   - 16 6 1 0 85.71% List
NRL Finals 13 5 -   - 20 5 8 0 38.46% List
Yorkshire Cup 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
Tooheys Challenge Cup 2 2 -   - 8 0 2 0 0.00% List
Anzac Tests 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1988, 1990-94 25 14 -   - 56 20 5 0 80.00% List
Australia (SL) 1997 4 - -   - - 3 1 0 75.00% List
Overall1988-1997 29 14 0   0 56 23 6 0 79.31% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1988 1 1 -   - 4 1 0 0 100.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1988, 1990-92 7 4 -   - 16 6 1 0 85.71% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Aus Presidents XIII 1985 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW 1987-94, 1996, 1998 27 7 -   - 28 15 12 0 55.56% List
NSW City 1988-94, 1996 8 4 -   - 16 5 3 0 62.50% List
NSW (SL) 1997 3 3 -   - 12 3 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1985-1998 39 14 0   0 56 24 15 0 61.54% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla NSWRFL 1983 14 3 -   - 12 8 6 0 57.14% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1984 12 3 -   - 12 5 6 1 41.67% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1985 21 10 -   - 40 10 11 0 47.62% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1986 24 9 -   - 36 9 14 1 37.50% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1987 19 7 -   - 28 11 8 0 57.89% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1988 22 17 -   - 68 14 6 2 63.64% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1989 23 14 -   - 56 15 8 0 65.22% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1990 20 13 -   - 52 10 10 0 50.00% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1991 15 10 -   - 40 6 7 2 40.00% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1992 7 1 -   - 4 2 5 0 28.57% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1993 15 7 -   - 28 7 8 0 46.67% List
Cronulla NSWRL 1994 18 18 -   - 72 10 8 0 55.56% List
Cronulla ARL 1995 21 12 -   - 48 13 8 0 61.90% List
Cronulla ARL 1996 21 13 -   - 52 13 6 2 61.90% List
Cronulla Super League 1997 20 7 -   - 28 13 7 0 65.00% List
Cronulla NRL 1998 13 4 -   - 16 7 6 0 53.85% List
Sharks NRL 1999 26 11 1 / 2 50.00% - 46 19 7 0 73.08% List
Sharks NRL 2000 17 7 -   - 28 10 7 0 58.82% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla 1983-00 328 166 1   - 666 182 138 8 55.49% List

English Career - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Leeds 1986/87 19 17 -   - 68 11 8 0 57.89% List
Leeds 1988/89 21 13 -   - 52 15 6 0 71.43% List

English Career - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Leeds 1986, 1988 40 30 -   - 120 26 14 0 65.00% List

Your Say

  • Paul Carter
    28/03/2010

    Ettingshausens two 5-try performances at Toyota Stadium (when it was Caltex Field) against Illawarra in Round 22 1989 and South Sydney in Round 22 1994 both occurred on the same date - August 27.

  • Anonymous
    26/12/2016

    Brilliant player.loved watching him play for the sharks.they were something special saturday nights at shark park

  • Anonymous
    22/02/2017

    Andrew always appeared to be a real gentleman who protected his family n media self despite his great appeal with such good looks every blessing to him his wife n family. Time is still on his side to reveal how much he has to offer Australia good luck Mother of decent rugby union sons.

  • Jfw
    22/09/2018

    Andrew was a great player.Hope he is well .John St.Helens UK.

  • Anonymous
    25/03/2020

    E.t is definitely one of the best centres ever to play in our competition the only thing he missed out winning in his career was a premiership. But there has been plenty of great players that have never won the big one in the league.

  • Anonymous
    15/10/2021

    E.t is definitely one of the greatest players in rugby league never to win a premiership

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, AJ Lucantonio, Greg Fiveash, Alan Katzmann, Paul Carter, Max Turner, Steven Russo, Bill Bates, Michael Borg

Sources: ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1999, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2000, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2001, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90, Match Video, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1988-89, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1991-92, Newspapers, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995, Irvin Saxton's Record Keepers' Club, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90