Andrew McCullough (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played as a for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

, and

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL), and has played for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

Background

McCullough was born in

Dalby, Queensland Dalby () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Dalby had a population of 12,758 people. It is on the Darling Downs and is the administrativ ...

, Australia to Wendy and Graham McCullough. In 2018, McCullough married Carlie Harrison in a ceremony at

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

Biography

McCullough attended Dalby State School and subsequently

Dalby State High School Dalby State High School is a heritage-listed Queensland State High Schools, state high school at 28B Nicholson Street, Dalby, Queensland, Dalby, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1953 to 1954. It was added to the ...

, before accepting a scholarship to

Brisbane State High School Brisbane State High School (BSHS or commonly State High) is a partially selective, co-educational, state secondary school, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland, ...

for grade 12. During his time in Dalby, he played for the Dalby Devils and on a number of school teams. He played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2007 while attending

. In 2003, while he was in grade 8, he had already signed with the Brisbane Broncos. He made his debut in the Telstra Premiership against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

on 17 May 2008, becoming the first player born in the 1990s to make his debut in the NRL's top grade. In 2009, he was named the Broncos' "Rookie of the Year". McCullough was named the

2012 Brisbane Broncos season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

's player of the year. He played for the Broncos in their extra-time loss to the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the

2015 NRL Grand Final The 2015 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2015 NRL season and was played on Sunday 4 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys. North Queensland won the ma ...

, and was selected to make his State of Origin debut for

in 2018, starting all three games of that series at hooker following the retirement of former Queensland captain

Cameron Smith Cameron or Cam Smith may refer to: * Cammie Smith (Cameron Wilberforce Smith, born 1933), West Indian cricketer * Cam Smith (artist), British comic book artist * Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983), Australian rugby league player * Cameron S ...

. After 260 games for the club, but by now being overlooked for a spot in the starting line-up ahead of the younger

Jake Turpin Jake Turpin (born 16 November 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He previously for the Brisbane Broncos and the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). ...

, McCullough left the Broncos on 21 May 2020 to join the

for the remainder of the 2020 season. He played in 8 matches for the Knights and scored two tries before having his season ended by a hamstring injury. He was then removed from the Knights' playing squad list to make way for the mid-season signing of

Blake Green Blake Green (born 18 September 1986) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Green was regarded as somewhat of a journeyman during his career after playing for nine sepa ...

. Newcastle chose not to renew McCullough's contract and he was able to return to Brisbane after taking up a player option in his contract for 2021. On 15 February 2021, he signed a three-year deal to join St. George Illawarra. He made his debut for St. George Illawarra in round 1 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

against rivals Cronulla-Sutherland where the Dragons lost 32-18 at

Kogarah Oval Jubilee Stadium (also known as Kogarah Oval) is a multi-purpose stadium in Carlton, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one of the home grounds of the National Rugby League (NRL) ...

. McCullough was selected for the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

in Game 2 of the

2021 State of Origin Series The 2021 State of Origin series was the 40th annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland has won 22 times, NSW 15 times, with two series drawn. The venue for Game 1 w ...

, following an injury to incumbent hooker Harry Grant. In round 22 of the

, McCullough was taken from the field with an ankle injury in the Saints loss against Penrith. On 17 August 2021, it was announced that McCullough would be ruled out for the remainder of the season. On 10 November 2022, McCullough announced his immediate retirement from rugby league with a year remaining on his contract with St. George Illawarra.

Post playing

In February 2025, McCullough joined the Under 19s Queensland Origin squad as a forwards coach.

Statistics

References

External links

St. George Illawarra profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCullough, Andrew 1990 births Living people Brisbane Broncos players Newcastle Knights players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Norths Devils players Queensland rugby league team players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Queensland People educated at Brisbane State High School Sportspeople from Dalby, Queensland