Ricky Stuart

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Ricky Stuart

Personal information
Full name	Ricky Stuart
Date of birth	7 January 1967 (1967-01-07) (age 41)
Place of birth	Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Nickname(s)	Sticky
School(s) attended	St Edmund's College (ACT)
Club information
Position(s)	Coach
Current club	Cronulla Sharks
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Queanbeyan Whites
Youth representative teams
1984-1986	Australia Schoolboys	6
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1988–1998 1999–2000	Canberra Canterbury	203 (195) 40 (10)
Representative teams
1990–1994 1990–1994	New South Wales Australia	14 (12) 9 (5)
Professional clubs coached
2002–2006 2007–	Sydney Cronulla
Representative teams coached
2004 2005 2006–present	Country Origin New South Wales Australia
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Ricky Stuart (born 7 January 1967 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales) is an Australian former representative rugby league and rugby union footballer - a dual international - and the current coach of the Australian rugby league team. He also played State of Origin for New South Wales in the first Gould era. At club level, Ricky Stuart was the half-back of the "Green Machine", the Canberra Raiders team that won 3 premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994 and were runners up in 1991 who were coached by Tim Sheens. He is currently coach of the Cronulla Sharks and was formerly coach of the Sydney Roosters until late in the 2006 season.

[edit] Playing career

Stuart's union career was with the Queanbeyan Whites before being selected for the Wallabies tour of Argentina in 1987. Stuart had originally played rugby league as a child and his father was a prominent member of Canberra's football community^{[citation needed]} but he took up rugby union while attending St Edmund's College.^[1] Stuart would later remark that he could have earned more playing union due to shamateurism, than by moving back to his childhood game of league.^{[citation needed]}

Stuart then switched codes to league and joined the Canberra Raiders team in 1988. He was a key member of the club's most successful period in the late 1980s, playing halfback inside a backline including legendary talents Laurie Daley and Mal Meninga. Stuart won three premierships with the Canberra Raiders, playing 203 games and winning the Clive Churchill Medal in 1990. In 1993 he won the Dally M Medal for Player of the Year.

Stuart's international rugby league debut in the 1st Test against Great Britain in London in October 1990 saw him become Australia's 38th dual code rugby international, following Michael O'Connor and preceding Scott Gourley. He played nine test matches for Australia from 1990, touring with the Australian side to Great Britain and France in 1990 and 1994. Stuart also played fourteen State of Origin matches for New South Wales. He was named man-of-the-match in the second game of the 1990 series.

Stuart retired from first grade after playing 40 games for the Canterbury Bulldogs in 1999-2000.

[edit] Coaching career

[edit] Sydney Roosters

Stuart began his first grade coaching career in 2002 with the Sydney Roosters, taking over from Graham Murray and winning the premiership in his first year as coach. In 2003 and 2004 Stuart-coached Roosters sides were beaten in Grand Finals, but the team struggled in 2005 and 2006 despite the high calibre of the player roster. Stuart's contract was terminated and he left the Roosters two weeks before the end of the 2006 season.

[edit] Cronulla Sharks

In 2007 Stuart took over as coach at the Cronulla Sharks with a two year contract. He replaced Stuart Raper.

[edit] Representative Coaching

In 2005, Stuart was appointed coach of the New South Wales. His coaching approach continued the Phil Gould legacy of matching the Queensland passion by focussing the NSW players' pride in the jumper and achievements of those who have worn it before.

In 2006 Stuart was appointed as coach of Australian national rugby league team, replacing Wayne Bennett after Australia's loss in the 2005 Tri-Nations final to New Zealand. Stuart has so far enjoyed success with the Kangaroos victors in the Anzac Tests of 2006 & 2007, in winning the Tri Nations series of 2006 thus regaining the mantle of World Champions and in the end of season 2007 one-off Test against New Zealand. To the end of 2007 his Australian coaching record stands at six victories from seven matches. He is expected to coach the Kangaroos through to the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stuart Appointed Kangaroos Coach Australian Rugby League
• Sydney Roosters Profile Sydney Roosters Rugby League 2006
• National Rugby League Profile National Rugby League Home
• Ricky Stuart Rugby League Tables & Statistics
• State of Origin / New South Wales Players Rugby League Tables & Statistics