Aaron Ketchell (born 18 March 1977) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s. Primarily a , he was a foundation player for the

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

Background

A Tully Tigers junior, Ketchell attended Tully State High School, where he represented the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

in 1994.

Playing career

In 1994, Ketchell represented the Queensland under-17 side, starting at in their 14–28 loss to New South Wales. In 1995, Ketchell signed with the newly established

, and was the youngest player in the club's inaugural first grade squad. Cowboys' head coach at the time,

Grant Bell Grant Bell is a rugby league football coach. He was the first coach of the North Queensland Cowboys in 1995. He is currently coaching the Centrals club in the Townsville Rugby League competition. Coaching career In 1995 Bell became the first ...

, later said of Ketchell, "He was regarded as the next big thing." In Round 20 of the

1995 ARL season The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby Leagu ...

, Ketchell made his first grade debut for the

as an 18-year old in a 10–12 loss to the

Western Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition i ...

. In his rookie season, he played three games for the club. Over the next two seasons, Ketchell would play nine more games for the Cowboys, before being released at the end of the 1997 season.

Statistics

ARL/Super League

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchell, Aaron 1977 births Living people Australian rugby league players Rugby league players from Queensland Indigenous Australian rugby league players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league second-rows Place of birth missing (living people) People from Tully, Queensland