| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Buettner | |||||
| Born | 30 October 1973 Fairfield, New South Wales, Australia |
|||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | |||||
| Weight | 93 kg (14 st 9 lb) | |||||
| Position | Centre, Five-eighth | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1992–95 | Parramatta Eels | 79 | 17 | 73 | 0 | 214 |
| 1996–99 | North Sydney Bears | 95 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 236 |
| 2000 | Northern Eagles | 23 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 32 |
| 2001–02 | Parramatta Eels | 50 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| 2003–04 | Wests Tigers | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Total | 263 | 96 | 77 | 0 | 538 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1996 | Australia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 1997 | New South Wales | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: NRL Stats | ||||||
Michael Buettner (born 30 October 1973 in Fairfield, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football for the North Sydney Bears, the ill fated Northern Eagles, Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers, as well as representative football for New South Wales and for the Australian national side.
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While attending Westfields Sports High School, Buettner played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1991.[1]
An Australian Schoolboy representative in 1991 and Parramatta junior, Buettner made his first-grade debut for Parramatta in 1992. Buettner spent four seasons in the back-line at Parramatta before moving to North Sydney as a replacement for centre Ivan Cleary. He was selected for both state and country while playing at Norths and in 1998 he scored a club record 21 tries in a season.
In 2000, Norths and Manly merged to become the Northern Eagles. Buettner stayed for one season but like many former North Sydney players soon left and returned to Parramatta in 2001. Parramatta went all the way to the 2001 Grand final with Buettner at five-eighth but they lost to the Newcastle Knights, 30–24.
Buettner left the Eels for the Wests Tigers in 2003 but he only played sixteen games in two seasons and retired at the end of 2004.
In 1996, Buettner was selected to represent Australia at five-eighth in a match against Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. He scored two tries.
Buettner was selected to represent New South Wales as an interchange for game III of the 1997 State of Origin series.
Formerly the NRL's Game Liaison manager, Buettner is currently competition manager for the National Youth 20s tournament, the Toyota Cup.[2] He also serves on the NRL's judiciary.[3]