Robbie Kearns (born 12 December 1971) 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s, and 2000s. An Australia international and

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 Ov ...

representative forward, he played for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

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 ...

and the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

Early life

Born in Sydney, New South Wales. 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

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

Playing career

He made his First Grade Debut for the

in Round 1 v Brisbane at Lang Park, 20 March 1992, becoming a regular in the

side. Kearns signed with the

for 1997. In the 1997 post season, he was selected to play for Australia from the interchange bench in all three matches of the

Super League Test series Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. Kearns signed on with the newly created

for 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 ...

. That year he was named the club's player of the year. 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 Stor ...

against Super League 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, offi ...

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 b ...

, 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 The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

. He retired at the conclusion of the 2005 season after a 13-year career but remained with the Melbourne Storm in a marketing 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

Career stats

283 career games to date scoring 31 tries, 2 goals (128 points)

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