Ryan James Fitzgerald (born 16 October 1976) is an Australian radio personality, television presenter, comedian and former

Australian rules footballer Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

. After being drafted from the

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

debut for Sydney in 2000, before being traded to Adelaide, where he played eight games in 2002. Fitzgerald later appeared in ''

Big Brother Australia 2004 ''Big Brother 2004'', also known as ''Big Brother 4'', was the fourth season of the Australian reality television series '' Big Brother'', and was aired on Network Ten, starting on Sunday 2 May 2004, with the housemates entering the day before, ...

'', beginning a wider media career in television on Channel 10's Saturday night AFL show ''

Before The Game ''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Anthony ...

''.

Early life

Fitzgerald attended Wirreanda High School and played junior football for Port Noarlunga.

AFL career: 2000–2002

A tall forward drafted by the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

with the 4th overall selection in the 1998 AFL Draft from

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

club,

South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium 2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

due to a shoulder injury. On debut, Fitzgerald kicked five goals and "looked set for a big career". He played nine more games for the rest of the season. At the start of 2001, Fitzgerald injured his knee, requiring a reconstruction that resulted in him missing the entire season. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, he was traded to the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) sinc ...

, but only played eight games for the Crows before retiring from AFL football due to another ACL injury that required a reconstruction.

Television and radio career

Fitzgerald has appeared on '' The Project'', ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyrm ...

'', ''

'', '' Reality Check'', '' All Star Family Feud'', ''

The Front Bar ''The Front Bar'' (formerly ''Friday Front Bar'') is an Australian Football League-based talk show that airs on the Seven Network. The show is hosted by journalist Andy Maher and comedians Mick Molloy and Sam Pang. Hosts * Regular ** Andy ...

'' and ''

Hughesy, We Have a Problem ''Hughesy, We Have a Problem'' was an Australian comedy panel television series which premiered on Network 10 on 30 January 2018. The program was hosted by Dave Hughes, who along with a panel of comedians, attempted to solve problems of viewers ...

''. Fitzgerald was a contestant in ''

'', and finished in fourth place at the conclusion of the show. After that he became co-host of the Adelaide Nova 91.9 Breakfast show and made occasional appearances on ''

Before The Game (AFL) ''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Antho ...

''. In 2005, he had a new role as a co-host on the new Friday night

Big Brother Australia ''Big Brother Australia'' (also known simply as ''Big Brother'') is an Australian reality show based on the international '' Big Brother'' format created by John de Mol. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show feature ...

show ''Friday Night Live'' with fellow ''Big Brother 2004'' contestant

Bree Amer Bree Amer (born 17 August 1982 ) is an Australian television personality. Biography Amer was a contestant on ''Big Brother Australia 2004'' from the Gold Coast, in Queensland, and the first housemate of ''Big Brother Australia'' to re-enter t ...

, which became a stand-alone show in its own right in 2006 as ''

Friday Night Games ''Friday Night Games'' was a spin-off from '' Big Brother Australias Friday Night Live, hosted by Mike Goldman (Blue Coordinator only in the Grand Final) with Bree Amer (Green Coordinator) and Ryan "Fitzy" Fitzgerald (Yellow Coordinator) and wa ...

''. This show then returned as ''Friday Night Download'', featuring internet videos. It was cancelled early in its second season. In October 2010, Fitzgerald announced that he would be leaving Nova 91.9 Breakfast to be a part of Nova's drive show

Fitzy and Wippa ''Fitzy and Wippa'' is an Australian breakfast radio show on Nova 96.9 in Sydney, Australia. It is hosted by comedians Ryan "Fitzy" Fitzgerald, Michael "Wippa" Wipfli with Sarah McGilvray. The show airs from 6 am to 9 am on weekday mo ...

, which then became the Nova 96.9 Sydney breakfast show. Fitzy and Wippa were nominated for the 2011 Australian Commercial Radio Awards in the best on-air team, Metro FM category. Fitzgerald is also a regular player in the E. J. Whitten Legends Game. On 14 October 2012 (episode seven), he made his acting debut on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

show '' House Husbands''. In 2016, Fitzgerald joined radio co-host Michael Wipfli to host the

show '' 20 to 1''. Fitzgerald also appear on ''

'' filling in the absence of either

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. ...

or Sam Pang.

References

External links

*
Ryan Fitzgerald's page at agent W Sports & Media
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Ryan 1976 births Adelaide Football Club players Australian television presenters Nova (radio network) announcers Big Brother (Australian TV series) contestants Living people Australian rules footballers from Adelaide South Adelaide Football Club players Sydney Swans players