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| Born | (1965-10-29)29 October 1965 (age 59)[1] Sutherland,New South Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 83 kg (13 st 1 lb)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Fullback, Centre, Wing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Andrew "ET"Ettingshausen (born 29 October 1965) is an Australian former professionalrugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He played his first grade Australian club football for theCronulla-Sutherland Sharks, retiring at the end of the2000 NRL season having played 328 first grade games for the club, the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL record for most games at a single club. This record stood for ten years, before ultimately being broken byDarren Lockyer for the Broncos in 2010.[5]
"ET" as he was known, represented bothNew South Wales, and theAustralian Kangaroos, and was twice aKangaroo tourist. After his retirement from league in 2000, Ettingshausen went on to host and produce his own fishing television show titledEscape with ET.
Ettingshausen was originally signed to the Cronulla side as a teenager before making his début at the age of 17, while still at school. He quickly cemented a place in the Sharks first grade side and ultimately played 328 first grade games with the club over eighteen seasons.
Ettingshausen was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2008
Ettingshausen was born in the southernSydney suburb of Sutherland, and began his rugby league career playing for his local club side at the age of six.[citation needed] He was subsequently scouted and signed as a junior to theCronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
While attending Cronulla De La Salle, Ettingshausen played for theAustralian Schoolboys team in 1982 and 1983.[6]
Cronulla coachTerry Fearnley gave Andrew Ettingshausen his first grade début for the Sharks in round 5 of the1983 season against theNewtown Jets atFullback. His début was somewhat of an uneventful affair, although he did cross for a try in the second half.[citation needed]
In the1985 season, he scored a total of ten tries playing mostly from fullback or in thecentres in his third season and finally cemented his spot in the Sharks squad.[7]
Ettingshausen also made an appearance in the 1988 Australian television movieThe First Kangaroos, which depicted the1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Also having a small role in the movie was his NSW teammate and captainWayne Pearce.[8]
In 1987, Ettingshausen made his début forNew South Wales on the wing in Game 1 of the1987 State of Origin series atLang Park inBrisbane.
The1988 season was the high point of his early years when he was moved off the wing and into the centres where he would remain for the majority of his career. He made the first of eight appearances forCity Origin in 1988, playing on the wing in City's 20-18 win overCountry Origin in the annualCity vs Country Origin match. He then went on to be one of the better players[citation needed] for NSW in the1988 Origin series whichQueensland won 3-0. Off the back of these performances Ettingshausen was selected for his first test match forAustralia.
After a successful1990 NSWRL season in which he played fullback in all threeOrigin games for NSW which saw The Blues win the series for the first time since1986, and after scoring 13 tries in 20 games for Cronulla, he was selected for the17th Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France where he played in all five tests on tour against Great Britain andFrance. Ettingshausen came of age on tour, playing in 12 games and finishing as the highest try scorer for the 28-man touring squad with 15[citation needed], including hat-tricks against powerhouse English sidesSt. Helens andWigan in the opening two games. It was these efforts which cemented his place in the first test against Great Britain atWembley Stadium where the home side pulled off a shock 19-12 win, their first test win on home soil against Australia since the second test of the1978 Kangaroo tour. Despite the loss, Australia bounced back and securedThe Ashes with wins atOld Trafford andElland Road with Ettingshausen scoring his only try of the test series in the 14-0 win in the deciding test.[citation needed]
Despite a slow start to the1992 NSWRL season playing fullback for the Sharks, Ettingshausen was picked at fullback for NSW for all three games of the1992 Origin series which saw NSW win 2-1. He was then picked at fullback for all three tests against Great Britain inThe Ashes.
He was selected on the wing for NSW for games 1 and 2 of the1993 Origin series, and at centre for game 3. He missed Australian selection for the 1st test of their two test tour of New Zealand & was selected on the reserves bench for the 2nd test played inPalmerston North. For the 3rd test back inBrisbane he was again a reserve.
1994 saw Ettingshausen back at his best, seeing him score a total of 18 tries from just 18 games and leading the Sharks by example after also being awarded the captaincy of the Sharks. Five of his 18 tries came in one match againstSouth Sydney at The Sharks home ground,Endeavour Field in Round 22 as the Sharks humiliated the Rabbitohs 42-0.[9] With his 3rd try againstManly-Warringah in Round 5 (his 6th of the season), Ettingshausen brought up his 100th try for the Cronulla club. He would finish the season with 112 tries for Cronulla. At the end of the 1994 season, he was selected for his secondKangaroo tour. In almost a carbon copy of his 1990 Tour, Ettingshausen was the team's top try scorer with 15 from 11 games played which included all three tests playing on the wing against Great Britain and the single test against France. Ettingshausen remains the only player to be the leading try scorer on consecutiveKangaroo tours.
Ettingshausen captained Cronulla-Sutherland to the1997 Super League Grand Final, but they lost 26-8 to theBrisbane Broncos in front of 58,912 fans at theANZ Stadium inBrisbane (the Broncos home ground) in what was the first night Grand Final played in Australia and the first not to be played in Sydney. He then toured with theAustralian SL team to Great Britain and France at the end of 1997, playing all four tests (three against Great Britain, and one against France) in the centres. Other than the 1992 Ashes series, this was the only time ET failed to score a try for Australia in a full test series.
In the1999 NRL season, Ettingshausen played 26 games for Cronulla as the club won the minor premiership after enjoying one of their best ever seasons. Ettingshausen played in the club's preliminary final defeat against St George atStadium Australia.[10]
Ettingshausen played on for Cronulla in the2000 NRL season which would be his last. His final game as a player came in round 23 2000 against theAuckland Warriors which Cronulla won 22-12 atShark Park.
He ended up playing a total of 328 first grade games, all for Cronulla which at the time became the record for the most games for a single club, and 6th highest overall. His record was broken whenDarren Lockyer played his 329th game for the Brisbane Broncos in Round 25 of the2009 NRL season. As of the2013 NRL season, ET sits 6th on the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL all-time games list behind Lockyer (355),Terry Lamb (349),Steve Menzies (349),Brad Fittler (336) andCliff Lyons (332).
During the1991 NSWRL season Ettingshausen filed a defamation lawsuit against the AustralianHQ magazine and photographer Brett Cochrane.[11] Cochrane had taken a photo of Ettingshausen while he was in the shower on the 1990Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. The magazine ran the shot in 1991 without his permission. Ettingshausen successfully sued the magazine for originally $350,000 which was later reduced to $100,000 after appeal.[12]
In 2012, Ettingshausen admitted to having a 12-month affair with the wife of close friendPaul Mellor. He also revealed he had been suffering from depression.[13]
Ettingshausen first played in the annualCity vs Country Origin game in 1988. He would go on to make eight appearances for the team until his final selection in 1996. He scored 4 tries in the 8 games, and in a pointer to higher representative honors, his first game was on the wing.[citation needed]
Ettingshausen made hisNew South Wales début in the1987 State of Origin series, and over the next nine years went on to bring his tally of State of Origin games to twenty-seven. He made his début on the wing but went on to cover both the positions of fullback and centre, scoring a total of seven Origin tries, plus another three in his three games for NSW during the1997 Super League Tri-series where he played all games, including the series Final againstQueensland at the ANZ Stadium in Brisbane, in the centres. The game was drawn 18-18 at the end of regular time (80 minutes) and 22-22 after a further 20 minutes of extra time, and only ended only after NSW halfbackNoel Goldthorpe kicked a field goal in the 104th minute. This made it the longest-ever game of first class rugby league.[14]
Ettingshausen played in 29 Test matches for Australia (including 4 with the Super League Australian team) between 1988 and 1997. He made his test début in the green and gold on 11 June 1988 against thetouringGreat Britain Lions, playing on the wing at theSydney Football Stadium. In the 100th test between the two teams, Australia defeated the tourists 17-6[15] He would score his first test try in the second game of the series at Lang Park as the Aussies retainedThe Ashes with a 34-14 victory.[16]
Ettingshausen was selected to both the 1990 and 1994 Kangaroo Tours, playing in all 9 tests played over the two tours, and holds the distinction of being the only everKangaroo Tourist to be the leading try scorer on consecutive tours, crossing for 15 tries on each tour. He was also selected to the1991 tour of Papua New Guinea.
Ettingshausen's 29th and final test for Australia came during the1997 Super League Test series at theElland Road stadium inLeeds, England where Australia defeated Great Britain 37-20.[17]
Despite being one of the first choice backs selected for representative sides during his career, Ettingshausen never played in aRugby League World Cup final for the Kangaroos. He missed selection when Australia defeated New Zealand 25-12 in1988 atEden Park, was unavailable through injury when Australia defeated Great Britain 10-6 in1992 atWembley, and wasn't selected for the1995 Rugby League World Cup which was played at the height of theSuper League war, and theAustralian Rugby League controversially did not select any Super League aligned players (though Australia would still go on to win theFinal at Wembley 16-8 over hostsEngland).[18]
In total, Ettingshausen played 29 tests for Australia (5 at fullback, 14 on the wing, 10 in the centres and 4 off the bench),[19] plus another 15 tour matches. He scored 14 test tries and 25 in the tour games.
Ettingshausen's 165 tries is the fifth highest tally in Australian first grade rugby league, behindKen Irvine (212),Steven Menzies (180),Alex Johnston (171) andBilly Slater (190). His tally is also the second highest total for any player who played their entire career at a single club behind Slater who has played his entire career for theMelbourne Storm.
Andrew Ettingshausen is one of ten players to have scored more than 150 tries in his NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL career.
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 328 | 166 | 1 | – | 662 |
| Team | Matches | Tries | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 328 | 165 | 1983–2000 |
 Australian PM's XIII | 1 | – | 1985 |
 Leeds Rhinos | 40 | 30 | 1986–1989 |
 NSW City Firsts | 1 | 2 | 1987 |
 New South Wales* | 30 | 10 | 1987–1998 |
| NSW City Origin | 8 | 4 | 1988–1996 |
| Australia (tests)* | 29 | 14 | 1988–1997 |
| Australia (non-test international) | 1 | 1 | 1988 |
| Australia (non-international tour games) | 16 | 22 | 1990–1994 |
| TOTAL | 454 | 248 | 1983–2000 |
* New South Wales and Australia (tests) stats include games played under the Super League banner in 1997.
After the2005 Cronulla riots, Ettingshausen was selected along with fellow sports starsSusie Maroney,Nick Davis,Mark Ella, and former Sharks teammateJason Stevens to head the $250,000 NSW government campaign to promote Sydney's beach suburbs as safe for everyone.[20]
In February 2008, Ettingshausen was named in the list of Australia's100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by theNRL andARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[21]
In 1992, the Cronulla club extended their ground atEndeavour Field, adding a new stand to the ground at a cost of 2.5 million dollars.[citation needed] The club originally calling the stand the 'Western Endeavour' grandstand but with the retirement of Andrew Ettingshausen in 2000 the club decided to name it the 'Andrew Ettingshausen' stand in his honour.
2003 saw the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks name the top ten Sharks legends of all-time as nominated by fans and picked by a panel of experts.[citation needed] Ettingshausen was named amongst the ten and was then further honoured by being picked as one of the three first immortals of the club along withGavin Miller andSteve Rogers
With his retirement from rugby league, Ettingshausen launched his media career with his own television show on theNine Network in 1997 titled,Escape with ET. The show is essentially a fishing show hosted by Ettingshausen though it also focuses on many water sports (such aswhite water rafting andwakeboarding), off-road4WD driving and other outdoors activities.
The show has been currently running for eight years to date and in 2005 moved to rival networkNetwork Ten. It usually had a celebrity appearing on each episode including former professionalrugby league footballers such asDavid Peachey andRyan Girdler along with others includingPaul Kelly,John Barnes andLayne Beachley.
In 2014, Ettingshausen won anAsian Television Award for best sports presenter.[22]
In 2015, Ettingshausen hosted the four partDiscovery Channel seriesSaltwater Heroes.[23]
In 2019, Ettingshausen competed in thesixth season ofAustralian Survivor. He was eliminated on Day 14 and finished in 19th place.[24]