Michael Buettner (born 30 October 1973 in

Fairfield, New South Wales Fairfield is a western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Being in the centre of the Cumberland Plain, Fairfield is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative heart of the Fairf ...

) is an Australian rugby league official and former professional footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

representative back, he played club football for the North Sydney Bears, the

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the N ...

, the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

and the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

Playing career

While attending

Westfields Sports High School , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensiv ...

, Buettner played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1991. A Parramatta junior, Buettner made his first-grade début for the Eels in round 4

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, against the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

Aussie Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier recta ...

on 12 April. At the end of that season he won the Eric Grothe award, as the Eels' rookie of the year. Buettner spent four seasons in the back-line at Parramatta before moving to the North Sydney Bears as a replacement for Ivan Cleary. In 1996, Buettner was selected to represent Australia at five-eighth in a match against Papua New Guinea in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. He scored two tries. In the 1996 & 1997 seasons, Buettner was part of The Norths side which made consecutive preliminary final appearances but fell short on both occasions. Buettner was selected to represent New South Wales as an interchange for game III of the

1997 State of Origin series The 1997 State of Origin series was the 16th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' selec ...

. In 1998 he scored a North Sydney record 21 tries in a season. In 1999, Buettner played in North Sydney's final ever game as a first grade side which was a 28-18 victory over North Queensland in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

with Buettner scoring a try. In 2000, Norths and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles merged to become the

. Buettner stayed for one season but, like many former North Sydney players, soon left. For 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 ...

Buettner returned to the

. He played for Parramatta at in their 2001 NRL grand final loss to the Newcastle Knights alongside former North Sydney teammate Jason Taylor. Buettner left the Eels for the

in 2003 but he only played sixteen games in two seasons and retired at the end of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

Post playing

Formerly the

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 ...

's game liaison manager, Buettner is currently competition manager for the National Youth 20s tournament, the

Holden Cup The NRL Under-20s (known commercially as the Holden Cup due to sponsorship from Holden) was the top league of professional rugby league for players aged 20 years or younger in Australasia. Contested by sixteen teams, the Under-20s competition co ...

. He also serves on the

NRL Judiciary The NRL Judiciary is the disciplinary judiciary of the National Rugby League (NRL), a rugby league competition. The Judiciary regulates the on-field conduct of players from NRL clubs. Due to changes announced on the eve of the 2022 NRL season, th ...

, where he is the match review committee coordinator. . In November 2018, Buettner played for the

in the Legends of League tournament which was held at the

Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium (known originally as Grahame Park), known commercially as Industree Group Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners asso ...

in Gosford. The side was captained by

Nathan Hindmarsh Nathan William Hindmarsh (born 7 September 1979) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who captained the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative second-ro ...

and made it to the preliminary final before being defeated by The Barbarians. In November 2019, Buettner Played again for the

in the Legends of League Tournament, which was held at

McDonald Jones Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights ( National Rugby League) and New ...

in Newcastle. The side was captained by

and won the Tournament, defeating the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...

in the final.

Footnotes

References

External links

Michael Buettner at ''NRL Stats''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buettner, Michael 1973 births Living people Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players North Sydney Bears players Northern Eagles players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Wests Tigers players