Robbie Kearns (born 12 December 1971) 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 in the 1990s, and 2000s. An Australia international and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

State of Origin representative forward, he played for 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 ...

, Western Reds and the

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 ...

Early life

Born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Kearns was educated at St John Bosco College, Engadine. Robbie played junior football for the Engadine Dragons and St John Bosco Bulldogs. He then signed with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

Playing career

In March 1992, Kearns made his first grade debut for Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in round 1 against 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 ...

Lang Park Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rectangular sporting st ...

, becoming a regular in the Cronulla side during the 1992 season. He was a member of the Sharks reserve grade premiership victory in 1993. Kearns signed with the Western Reds for the 1996 ARL season. He would go on to win Player of the Year honours for the Reds in 1996, also taking out the club Chairman's Player of the Year award in both 1996 and 1997. Selected by New South Wales for the

Super League Tri-series The Super League Tri-series was an international rugby league, rugby league football tournament contested in 1997 between Queensland rugby league team, Queensland, New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales, and New Zealand national rugby le ...

final against Queensland during the 1997 Super League season, Kearns would make his international representative debut after he was selected to play for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

from the interchange bench in all three matches of the Super League Test series against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Kearns signed on with the newly created

for the

1998 NRL season The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League (Au ...

. That year he was named the club's Player of the Year award, also winning the Chairman's Award. He would also make his State of Origin debut for

, playing in game 3 of the

1998 State of Origin series 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Kearns would be selected again for NSW in 1999, but fell off a horse at a training camp, breaking his collarbone in three places. He would be ruled out of the entire 1999 State of Origin series and would be restricted to only 13 matches for the entire 1999 season, with a thigh injury keeping him out of the Storm team that would go on to win the 1999 NRL Grand Final. Having won the 1999 Premiership, the

travelled to England to contest the

2000 World Club Challenge The 2000 World Club Challenge was contested by 1999 NRL season premiers, the Melbourne Storm and 1999's Super League IV champions, St. Helens. The match was played on 22 January at JJB Stadium, Wigan before a crowd of 13,394. The Melbourne St ...

against

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Champions St Helens R.F.C., with Kearns captaining at prop forward in the victory. In 2000 Kearns was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Kearns captained the Melbourne Storm from 2000 to 2002 and again in 2005. At the end of the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...

, he went on the 2001 Kangaroo tour. He was again named the Storm's player of the season in 2003 and he went on the 2003 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, helping Australia to victory over

in what would be the last time the two nations contested an Ashes series. He retired at the conclusion of the 2005 season after a 13-year career, but remained with the Melbourne Storm in a marketing and business development capacity. Melbourne Storm released a 'team of the decade' as part of their 10-year celebrations in 2007, with Kearns named at prop.

Representative career

*''State of Origin:'' Played 8 games in total for

between 1998 and 2003 *''International:'' Played 23 tests for Australia including the 2000 World Cup

Honours

* Western/Perth Reds Player of the Year: 1996, 1997 *

Player of the Year:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

Robbie Kearns at stateoforigin.com

Robbie Kearns at melbournestorm.com.au

2001 Ashes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kearns, Robbie 1971 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Melbourne Storm players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Western Reds players 20th-century Australian sportsmen