Brett Stewart (rugby league)

Brett Stewart
Stewart while playing for the Sea Eagles in 2008
Personal information
Nickname Snake[1]
Born 27 February 1985
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Playing information
Position Fullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2003– Manly Warringah 203 149 0 0 596
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2005 Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 4
2007 Country Origin 1 0 0 0 0
2007–12 New South Wales 8 5 0 0 20
2007 Australia 1 1 0 0 4
As of 3 Nov 2013
Source: NRL Stats, RLP

Brett Stewart (born 27 February 1985 in Wollongong, New South Wales) is a professional rugby league player for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative fullback, he has played his entire NRL career to date for the Sea Eagles, with whom he won the 2008 and 2011 Premierships.

Playing career

Born and raised in Wollongong, Brett Stewart and his older brother Glenn Stewart played their junior football with the Western Suburbs Red Devils, the same Illawarra Rugby League club that produced Manly-Warringah legend and rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton, as well as other noted Australian test players such as Garry Jack (also a fullback) and Steve "Blocker" Roach. After being surprisingly overlooked by the regions local NRL club St. George Illawarra, Stewart was signed by the Manly Sea Eagles. As part of the deal in moving to Manly, Stewart insisted they also sign Glenn as the close-knit brothers wanted to play together.

Brett Stewart made his NRL début for the Sea Eagles on 6 July 2003 in Round 17 of the 2003 NRL season as a replacement for injured fullback Brendon Reeves. In his only first grade game of the season, Manly were defeated 24-16 against the Parramatta Eels at Brookvale Oval. Safe under a high ball, a solid defender and an outstanding support player in attack, Stewart was a player with outstanding pace (he was reportedly timed at 10.2 seconds over 100 metres in his early years at the club making him not only the fastest player at Manly but also one of the fastest in the NRL) and was seen as part of the future for the Sea Eagles who had been searching for a top class fullback ever since the departure of New Zealand's dual rugby international Matthew Ridge to the Auckland Warriors following Manly's 1996 Grand Final win over St George.

After playing from the bench in a 30-22 loss to the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval in Round 7 of the 2004 NRL season, rookie coach and dual Manly premiership player Des Hasler moved former dual international Andrew Walker from fullback to five-eighth to bring Stewart in as the Sea Eagles custodian in Round 9 against the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Brookvale Oval. Manly defeated the Dragons 21-10 and Stewart made the #1 jumper his for the remainder of the season, cementing his place at the back for Manly and going on to score 14 tries from just 17 games.

Stewart was second on the top try scorer list with 21 tries for the 2006 NRL season, one behind the South Sydney Rabbitohs' winger Nathan Merritt. As of the 2013 NRL finals, he has the best strike rate for tries versus games in the NRL, scoring in 76.8% of his games. Stewart is known as the "Try scoring wizard" because of strike rate in NRL games. In his first representative match playing for the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea, he contributed to Australia's 28–8 win with a try. He made his State of Origin debut in Game 2 of the 2007 series, replacing an injured Anthony Minichiello at the last moment, and scored a try. Stewart played in the 2007 NRL Grand Final for Manly against the Melbourne Storm, but he was knocked out while contesting a bomb in the early minutes of the 2nd half by Storm forward Michael Crocker. Despite this, Stewart was selected as fullback for Australia's end of season test against New Zealand in Wellington, contributing with a try in Australia's record 58–0 victory over the Kiwis.

After being surprisingly overlooked for the Centenary Test against the Kiwis at the Sydney Cricket Ground in favour of in-form Storm and Queensland fullback Billy Slater, and again representing NSW in the 2008 State of Origin series, Stewart was one of the form players for Manly in their run to the 2008 NRL Grand Final, and was the leading NRL seasons leading try scorer with 22 from 24 appearances. In the Grand Final, Manly faced their nemesis Melbourne for the second year running. 2008 would be very different however as the Sea Eagles recorded the largest ever GF win when they vanquished Melbourne 40-0 to send club legend Steve "Beaver" Menzies out with his second premiership win. While Stewart himself didn't cross for a try in the GF, he provided the last pass on a couple of occasions for team mates to score, including the last try of the game for departing Centre Steven Bell.[2]

In August 2008, Stewart was named in the preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[3][4] and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad alongside other Manly players Brent Kite, Josh Perry, Anthony Watmough, David Williams, and his brother Glenn.[5] Unfortunately however, Stewart was forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury before the competition had begun.[6] It had been rumoured that Stewart's late season form in 2008 saw him selected to the Kangaroos as the number one fullback in front of the incumbent Billy Slater. However, in Stewart's absence, Slater went on to cement his spot in the national side and was the leading try scorer in the World Cup with 7 in 4 games.

Brett Stewart travelled with the Sea Eagles to England to face the Super League champions Leeds for the 2009 World Club Challenge at the Elland Road stadium in Leeds. Manly showed their class with a 28-20 win over the Rhinos, with both Snake and Anthony Watmough crossing for two tries. Stewart cloud easily have become the first player to cross for a hat-trick in the WCC, but inexplicably dropped an easy pass from Watmough in the first half only 30 metres from the try line with no one near him. In the lead-up to the WCC, Manly became the first Australian side travelling to England to actually play a warm-up game, defeating the Harlequins RL at The Stoop in London, winning 34-26 and showing how serious they were taking the game (in Manly's previous WCC match against Wigan in 1987, the team, which included 2009 coach Des Hasler as a player, had gone to England fully expecting an easy win and treated the trip as something of a holiday resulting in a shock 8-2 loss to the English champions).

Stewart featured in the NRL's 2009 television advertising campaign, alongside Storm player Greg Inglis as the "faces of rugby league".[7] The campaign was launched in The Domain with Stewart declaring the start of the 101st season of rugby league in Australia.[8]

Legal issues then saw Stewart suspended from the opening four rounds of the 2009 NRL season. Without Snake at fullback, Manly opened their premiership defense with four straight losses. The rot stopped when Stewart returned in Round 5 against the Tigers at Brookvale, scoring 3 tries as Manly won 23-10. He scored another two at Brookvale the next week against South Sydney before a knee injury forced him to miss the next 19 games. He made his return in Round 25 against Cronulla, but Manly were destined to be bundled out in the first week of the finals with a 40-12 away loss to Melbourne.

The 2010 NRL season was one to forget for Stewart. In the first game of the season against the Wests Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium he tore his Anterior cruciate ligament and missed the rest of the season. Manly were also without the services of star Winger David "Wolfman" Williams who injured his shoulder in the warm-up for that game and was forced to also miss the season after having surgery.

Stewart returned for Manly in 2011 and after scoring 15 tries in 20 games, helped the Sea Eagles into their third NRL Grand Final in five seasons. He played at fullback in the 2011 NRL grand final, scoring the opening try of the game in the win over the New Zealand Warriors (Glenn Stewart also scored in the game and would win the Clive Churchill Medal as the man of the match. As of the end of the 2014 NRL season before Glenn moved to South Sydney, Manly did not lose a game in which both Stewart brothers score tries). Stewart was then selected to make his return to representative football when he was chosen to play for Australia in the 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament, but again he was forced to withdraw from the team through injury before the series started.

Stewart scored a try in the Sea Eagles' 2012 World Club Challenge loss to the Leeds Rhinos at Headingley in Leeds. After an injury-interrupted start to the 2012 NRL season with the Sea Eagles, Stewart returned to the field and his usual top form in time to be regain his position at fullback for New South Wales in the first game of the 2012 State of Origin series against Queensland at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Stewart put in a solid performance in NSW's 10-18 loss and just missed out on scoring a try midway through the second half. The game was also the first time he and his older brother (and Manly team mate) Glenn Stewart had been selected for The Blues in the same game. Stewart played in the following two matches of the series which was won again by Queensland.

After a heavy 40-12 loss to Melbourne in the 2012 Preliminary final, Manly remained strong in 2013 under the coaching of Geoff Toovey who had taken over the reigns following Des Hasler's shock departure to Canterbury-Bankstown only days after the 2011 Grand Final. Throughout the season there was constant media speculation that Stewart would leave Manly to join Hasler at the Bulldogs, though the rumours ultimately proved false. After coming from 14-0 down to defeat South Sydney 30-20 in the Preliminary final, Manly were controversially beaten 26-18 in the 2013 NRL Grand Final by the Sydney Roosters following many contentious decisions by referee Shayne Hayne.

The 2014 NRL season saw Stewart and Manly remain at the top of the NRL, only losing the minor premiership in the final two games of the season to the Roosters following late season injuries to key players Matt Ballin and Jamie Buhrer. The season was also a tough one for Brett Stewart as his brother Glenn was out injured for much of the season with a foot injury and was ultimately not offered a contract which would lead him to signing with 2014 premiers South Sydney for 2015. After a disappointing finals series, Manly were ultimately bundled out in the semis by Canterbury who scored a 18-17 win in golden point extra time. The Semi-final was also Brett Stewart's 200th first grade game for Manly. Stewart scored 9 tries for the 2014 season, but was among the league leaders in try assists, giving out 22 in 19 games.

Stewart started the 2015 season by scoring 3 tries in the first two games of the season. His two tries in the 24-22 home win over Melbourne in Round 2 were his 78th and 79th tries scored at Brookvale Oval in just his 86th game at the ground. The two tries also saw Stewart surpass former team mate Steven Menzies' try scoring record at the ground which had stood at 78 since his departure from the club following the 2008 Grand Final win.

Suspensions

Stewart was charged with sexual assault on 10 March 2009. The NRL said it was "making no judgement" and announced it would suspend the 2009 commercial which featured Stewart until further information became available.[9] Despite the Manly board's decision to select Stewart for round one of the 2009 season, the NRL on 11 March suspended Stewart for the first four rounds for drunkenness,[10] reportedly stating that "its decision to stop Stewart playing was not intended to reflect any judgment regarding the police investigation into the alleged assault."[11]

Career highlights

Personal life

Stewart is the younger brother of former Manly Sea Eagles and now South Sydney Rabbitohs player Glenn Stewart. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 14 and is active in promoting diabetes awareness in children and how people who have it can still lead an active life.[13]

Sexual assault charges

He was accused of assaulting a 17-year old girl following the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles' season launch on 6 March 2009.[14][15] Stewart denied the allegation and was granted bail to appear in Manly Local Court on 7 April.[14][16]

Stewart was charged with sexual assault on 10 March 2009. On 7 April 2009, Stewart entered a plea of not guilty to the charges at Manly Local Court and the matter was adjourned until 26 May,[17] on which date Stewart's case was again mentioned in court, although Stewart was not present. The case was further adjourned to 23 June as his lawyer stated that he was still waiting on documents.[18]

When the court reconvened on 23 June 2009, his lawyers requested access to further documents, including psychiatric evaluations, and the matter was adjourned until September.[19] The court met once again on 28 September, and there they found that Stewart had a case to answer. As a result he was ordered to attend a committal hearing in February 2010.[20]

The committal hearing commenced on 4 February 2010, at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court. Stewart was represented by Clive Steirn, with Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran presiding.[21][22] He was accompanied by a number of supporters, including his girlfriend Jamie Baker, family members, and Manly coach Des Hasler. His charges are sexual intercourse without consent, involving digital penetration, and assault with an act of indecency.[23][24]

Stewart continued to strongly deny the allegations, with the hearing temporarily adjourned for one hour while Cloran read evidential documentation. The tendered documentation included medical evidence, psychiatric reports, and statements from the alleged victim and her family.[22] The alleged victim’s former psychiatrist gave evidence for the hearing, these details were suppressed by Cloran.[25]

The hearing was adjourned until 22 March 2010, in order for the alleged victim’s father to give evidence, as he was overseas.[26]

Acquittal

On 22 March 2010 Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran determined that there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.[27] His trial commenced on Monday 13 September 2010 and concluded on 29 September 2010 with a jury who deliberated for 50 minutes to return a verdict of not guilty.

At the opening and closing of his trial jurors were told by the judge that Stewart deserves the presumption of innocence despite the high number of sexual assault cases involving high-profile players that have received media attention in Australia in recent years.[28]

Playing Style

Stewart is best known for his electrifying pace and his ability to both score and create tries. His try-scoring rate of 73.76% is the best in the NRL for players with 100+ games experience. Even more impressive is his strike-rate at the Sea Eagles home ground, Brookvale Oval, where he has scored an astonishing 79 tries from only 86 appearances (91.86% S.R.), hence his nickname "The Prince of Brookvale". Complimenting this is his ability to perform one-on-one tackles and save tries (as of the end of 2014 he is statistically the most effective one-on-one tackling fullback in the league). Stewart also possesses an enviable array of passes, demonstrating this through no-look passes, flick passes and even a "tunnel ball" pass to create a try in the Sea Eagles preliminary final win over the New Zealand Warriors in 2008.

For the first few years of his career, Brett Stewart was the fastest player at Manly (and one of the fastest in the NRL) over 100 metres with a reported hand held time of 10.2 seconds recorded at training. Largely thanks to his numerous knee and hamstring injuries he has suffered since 2009, he is regarded as having lost a yard of pace, but is still considered one of the quickest players at the club (if not the quickest as of 2015).

Despite the injuries, Stewart is still seen as one of the danger players at Manly with his experience at fullback in organising the defence and his ball skills and support play in attack. He is regarded as one of the premier fullbacks in the game alongside the likes of Billy Slater (Melbourne) and Greg Inglis (South Sydney).

References

  1. ↑ Read, Brent (4 June 2011). "'Snake' Stewart gives Manly premiership bite". The Australian. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Grand final: As it happened". Fox Sports. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  3. ↑ Liam FitzGibbon (1 August 2008). "Surprises in Kangaroos squad". "Fox Sports News (Australia)". Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  4. ↑ "Veteran Lockyer named in Australian squad". International Herald Tribune. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  5. ↑ "Manly six win Australia call-up". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "Stewart out, Hunt and Boyd in". Fox Sports. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  7. ↑ Jane Aubrey (4 March 2009). "NRL looks to bring back the kids in 2009". WWOS. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  8. ↑ Andrew Webster (5 March 2009). "NRL season launch reaches new heights". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  9. ↑ "NRL pulls ad campaign in wake of police probe into Brett Stewart". Fox Sports News (Australia). 7 March 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  10. ↑ "Two players under investigation". Fox Sports News (Australia). 17 March 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  11. ↑ "Manly accept NRL's decision to suspend Brett Stewart until round five". Fox Sports News (Australia). 11 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  12. ↑ "Glenn Stewart named Captain for Round 2". mwse.com.au. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Brett Stewart Talks About Diabetes and His Rising Career
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Phil Rothfield (7 March 2009). "Manly stars Brett Stewart and Anthony Watmough in hot water after launch". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  15. ↑ Brad Walter and Ellie Harvey (10 March 2009). "Girl's father says his criminal past irrelevant". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  16. ↑ "Stewart charged with sexual assault". ABC News. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  17. ↑ "Manly full-back Brett Stewart pleads not guilty to sex charges". Fox Sports News (Australia). 7 April 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  18. ↑ "Stewart case adjourned". The Sydney Morning Herald, League HQ (Australia). 27 May 2009.
  19. ↑ "Stewart's lawyers want access to psychiatrist's report". ABC News(Australia). 23 June 2009.
  20. ↑ "Stewart has case to answer". ABC News. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  21. ↑ "Stewart has his day in court". Big Pond News. 4 February 2010.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Kontominas, Bellinda (4 February 2010). "Brett Stewart fronts up to face sex assault charges". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia).
  23. ↑ "Manly star Stewart back in court". ABC Grandstand Sport (Australia). 4 February 2010.
  24. ↑ "Father says Brett Stewart's penis visible". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). 4 February 2010.
  25. ↑ "Fans turn out to back Brett". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). 4 February 2010.
  26. ↑ "Father says Brett Stewart's penis visible". The Sydney Morning Herald, League HQ (Australia). 4 February 2010.
  27. ↑ Kontominas, Bellinda (22 March 2010). "Brett Stewart ordered to stand trial". smh.com.au. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  28. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/15/3012352.htm?section=justin

External links