Robbie McCormack (born 14 October 1964) 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 1980s and 1990s. A

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 O ...

representative hooker who started his career as a utility back, he played for Australian clubs the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

and

Hunter Mariners The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super Leagu ...

, and for English club,

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

(with whom he won 1998's

Super League III JJB Sports Super League III was the official name for the year 1998's Super League championship season, the 104th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the third season played in summer. The League format changed i ...

Playing career

McCormack began his career with the

in that club's inaugural 1988 season, when he impressed the critics with his skill at five-eighth. However, in the following 1989 season, McCormack – switched briefly to lock forward – suffered a “sickening” double leg fracture in the sixth game and spent the remainder of the season on the sidelines. In the following two seasons McCormack, played mainly at centre, and, although doubts as to his physical fitness were removed during 1990, he lost form badly during the Knights’ disappointing 1991 season and was out of first grade for nine weeks. However, when tried at for the first time at hooker in 1992 against Manly at

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 19 ...

, McCormack impressed immediately for his workrate and his ability to dart out of the dummy half position. McCormack was selected to represent

in game I of the

1992 State of Origin series The 1992 State of Origin series saw the 11th time that the annual three-game series between the New South Wales and Queensland representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under " state of origin" selection rules. It was the ...

and game II of the 1993 series when he replaced

Benny Elias Ben Elias (Arabic: بن الياس; born 15 November 1963 in Tripoli, Lebanon),is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played primarily as a for Balmain in the New South Wales Rugby League premie ...

as hooker. Eventually becoming captain of the Knights, he was signed by Newcastle's new cross-town rivals the

for the

1997 Super League (Australia) season The 1997 Super League season (also known as the Telstra Cup due to sponsorship by Telstra Corporation) was a breakaway professional rugby league football competition in Australia and the only one to be run by the News Limited-controlled Super ...

. After that McCormack moved to the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

to play for English club

. He was named in

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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

. He also played at hooker for

in their

1998 Super League Grand Final The 1998 JJB Super League Grand Final was the first staging of the Super League Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 1998's Super League III, and the first Grand Final of the Super League era. It was held on Saturday 2 ...

victory over

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

References

1964 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Hunter Mariners players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newcastle Knights captains Newcastle Knights players Rugby league hookers Wigan Warriors players Place of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub