Ben Cross (born 6 December 1978 in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

, New South Wales) 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 and coach. A New South Wales State of Origin representative , he previously played for

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

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 ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

and

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

Early life

Born at

, New South Wales. Cross was educated at Batemans Bay High School. Ben played his junior rugby league for Batemans Bay Tigers.

Playing career

Cross, also known as "The Boss", had an explosive start to his

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 ...

career with a suspension for striking following his début match in 2003. He moved to

, and they reached the 2006 NRL Grand Final in which Cross was selected to play from the interchange bench in Melbourne's loss to Brisbane. There was another citing for contrary conduct was made against him for an incident in the 2007 NRL Telstra Grand Final. The charge resulted in a two-week suspension. A powerful ball-runner, Cross endeared himself to

fans with his wholehearted efforts and aggression. In the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

, Melbourne again reached the grand final where they defeated Manly-Warringah at

Telstra Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

. This premiership was later stripped by the

NRL 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 ...

for major and deliberate breaches of the salary cap. In August, 2008, Cross was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. Late in 2010, Cross re-signed with

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

for 2011, however in October, 2010

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

offered Cross a two-year deal. Cross asked the Knights for a release and it was granted. Cross was then released by Leeds mid season by mutual consent. On 12 July 2011 he joined

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

until the end of the season, and on the same day it was announced he would join

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

for the 2012 season. He scored his first ever professional try whilst playing for

against

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

in a victory 26–22 at

Halton Stadium The Halton Stadium (currently known as the DCBL Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose rugby league, association football, football and American football stadium in Widnes, Cheshire, England. It is the home of Rugby League side ...

Coaching career

After the 2013 season, Cross returned to

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

to be an assistant coach to the

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

team. On 11 March 2016, Cross was named the head coach of the New South Wales Rugby League Women's side.

Andy Patmore Andy Patmore (born 23 May 1968) is an Australian former professional rugby league player who played in the 1990s. He played most of his career at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, but he also played for the Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbit ...

replaced him in 2019. After resigning as the head coach of the New South Wales Rugby League Women's side, Cross moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

to be an assistant coach to 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 ...

' team. The

cut Cross from their coaching staff in 2020. In April 2021, Cross joined the

PNG Hunters The Papua New Guinea Hunters (also referred to as PNG Hunters) are a professional rugby league football club based in Papua New Guinea. They were formed in December 2013 and compete in the Queensland Cup, a second tier competition in Australia. ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

as a specialist coach. On 13 October 2021, Cross was named the head coach of the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Original ...

' team. Following a string of losses during the 2024 Queensland Cup season, Cross was sacked by the Jets. During his tenure at Ipswich, the Jets encountered heavy defeats including going winless through the 2023 Queensland Cup season.

References

External links

Widnes Vikings profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Ben 1978 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Kurri Kurri Bulldogs players Leeds Rhinos players Melbourne Storm players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newcastle Knights players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Wagga Wagga Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players