Ben Anderson (born 3 February 1978) 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 and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ed in the 2000s. He played for the Melbourne Storm from 1998 to 1999. He is the son of Chris Anderson.

Early life

Anderson played junior rugby league for Chipping Norton Kangaroos and was educated at De LaSalle Bankstown. In 1997, Anderson played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the under 19s before signing a two-year contract with Melbourne.

Playing career

He made his

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

debut in round 4 of the

1998 NRL season 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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, starting from the interchange in Melbourne Storm's first game at Olympic Park. He made four appearances in total that season. However, he spent most of the 1998 season playing with Melbourne's feeder team, the Norths Devils, before requiring a knee reconstruction. In the

1999 NRL season The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the joint venture of the St. Ge ...

, Anderson played a further 13 games, starting at . However, he was dropped by his father Chris Anderson, who was the coach, following Melbourne's defeat in the qualifying final against the St. George Illawarra Dragons. This turned out to be his final game for Melbourne as he was released by the club in October 1999. Anderson coached Moranbah in Mackay and the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the Queensland Cup. While coaching Moranbah, Anderson recommended

Ben Barba Ben Barba (born 13 June 1989) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for St Helens in the Super League. He primarily played as a or . He was banned by both the NRL and Rugby Football League in February ...

to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs who subsequently signed him.Barba was almost sent to Storm
''smh.com.au'', 25 September 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ben 1978 births Living people Australian rugby league players Melbourne Storm players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Sydney Australian rugby league coaches Tweed Heads Seagulls coaches