Rod Wishart

Rod Wishart
Personal information
Full name Roderick James Clarke Wishart
Nickname Rocket
Born 15 October 1968
Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Position Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1989–98 Illawarra Steelers 154 68 386 0 1044
1999 St. George Illawarra 23 10 4 0 48
Total 177 78 390 0 1092
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1990–98 New South Wales 22 5 23 0 66
1991–96 Australia 17 13 43 0 138
Source: NRL Stats and Rugby League Project

Rod Wishart (born 15 October 1968 in Gerringong, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative goal-kicking winger, he played club football with the Illawarra Steelers and the St. George Illawarra Dragons of the National Rugby League.

Playing career

Wishart, who played both centre and wing in his junior years, grew up in his home town of Gerringong. There he was coached by former Parramatta Eels international centre Mick Cronin (who was also a native of the town). He first came to attention in 1988 when he played for Country Firsts. Later in the year he played against Papua New Guinea for both Southern Division and NSW Country, kicking goals in both victories.[1]

Illawarra Steelers

Wishart played his first match for the Illawarra Steelers in 1989. His debut for the Steelers was against the St George Dragons at the Wollongong Showground. Playing in the centres he contributed 3 goals (from 4 attempts) in a 22-18 loss to the Dragons. He would go on to finish his rookie season as the club's top point-scorer with 84 from 2 tries and 37 goals from his 19 games. During the season he scored a try in the Steelers 18-20 loss to the Brisbane Broncos in the 1989 Panasonic Cup Final at Parramatta Stadium.

Rod Wishart made his State of Origin debut on the wing for New South Wales in 1990, and was widely considered a certain selection for the end of season 1990 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France, but was ruled out through injury. However he wouldn't have to wait long to make his international debut. After again playing for NSW in the 1991 State of Origin series (won 2-1 by Queensland), Wishart was called into the Australian team for the second test of the 1991 Trans-Tasman Test series against New Zealand at the Sydney Football Stadium. With his selection, Wishart became just the second Steelers player after Alan McIndoe to be selected to play for Australia and the first Steelers junior to do so. He scored a try on debut in Australia's 44-0 win, but suffered a broken eye socket after being hit high soon after scoring by Kiwi forward Dean Lonergan. The injury wasn't enough to keep him out of Australia's 40-12 win in the deciding third test at Brisbane's Lang Park, where he scored his second of an eventual 10 test career tries.

Despite being in good goal kicking form for the Steelers in the 1991 Winfield Cup, having kicked 33 of 43 goals (76.7%) before making his test debut on 24 July, Wishart wasn't the first choice goal kicker for either New South Wales or Australia. Blues coach Tim Sheens preferred Manly-Warringah's Michael O'Connor in the role despite O'Connor having kicked only 1 goal from 1 attempt before the Origin series (having relinquished the role to Matthew Ridge at Manly), while Australian coach Bob Fulton preferred team captain Mal Meninga who had kicked 34 from 60 (56.6%) for the Canberra Raiders and only 4 from 11 (36.3%) for Queensland before Wishart's first test. Meninga would kick 14/20 (70%) in the series and 12/17 (70.5%) in the final two tests.

Rod Wishart was a strong ball runner and kicker, due to his powerful quadriceps muscles. They were so impressive, he often had trouble finding suitable team attire. Testament to this was that he was once sighted on a flight returning from playing the Brisbane Broncos in 1990, in a team shirt, tie, and team football shorts.

Wishart had an exceptional State of Origin career, making 22 appearances for New South Wales between 1990 and 1998, scoring 66 points from 5 tries and kicking 23 goals. He was NSW first choice goal kicker between 1992 and 1995, after which the job generally went to boom Newcastle Knights halfback Andrew Johns. He scored his first try for NSW in his 9th game for the Blues in Game 1 of the 1993 series at Lang Park.

During the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, he helped Australia retain The Ashes, playing in the first two tests against Great Britain before missing the third through injury. For the first two tests Wishart had been Australia's first choice goal kicker, though ironically in a reverse of 1991 he was only the Steelers second choice kicker that year behind Ryan Girdler. During the tests his opposite winger was Lions flyer Martin Offiah, generally regarded as the then fastest player in the game. Injury would also keep him out of Australia's victorious 1992 World Cup Final team at the end of the 1992 season, the first year in their history in which Illawarra had qualified for the NSWRL finals. The Steelers displaced glamour side Manly-Warringah in a tight game at Brookvale Oval in the penultimate round the season. With the Sea Eagles leading 8-4 late in the game, centre Matthew Rodwell made a break down the right edge and passed to Wishart who broke through Matthew Ridge's last ditch tackle and ran around to score under the posts. The conversion of his own try gave the Steelers a 10-8 win and ensured the club's first finals appearance.

Wishart failed to regain his test place in 1993, despite good performances for the Steelers and NSW, who won their second Origin series in a row as Australia selectors preferred Brisbane's World Cup wingers Willie Carne and Michael Hancock. With Girdler having moved to Penrith in a bid for a regular place in the centres (having often played on the opposite wing to Wishart), he was again the Steelers first choice goal kicker and leading point and try scorer for the 1993 season, scoring 118 points from 11 tries and 37 goals. His goal kicking for the Steelers slumped during the season, giving him a career worst 48.05% after kicking just 37 from 77 attempts

His goal kicking improved dramatically in the 1994 NSWRL season, and his continued good form at club and state level saw him selected on the 1994 Kangaroo tour. Wishart and team mate Paul McGregor became the first and only Illawarra Steelers players to be selected for a Kangaroo Tour. Rod Wishart went on to be the top point scorer on the tour, scoring 174 points from 8 tries and 71 goals in 11 games played, breaking the record of 170 by Michael O'Connor on the 1986 Kangaroo tour. He also played in three of the four tests on tour, coming into the side for the second test against Great Britain at Old Trafford in Manchester. He kicked 7/9 goals as the Kangaroos levelled the test series with a comprehensive 38-8 win after losing the first test 8-4 at Wembley Stadium. The Kangaroos then wrapped up the series at Elland Road in Leeds two weeks later with Wishart crossing for the Kangaroos opening try of the second half. He then played on the wing in Australia's 74-0 demolition of France, scoring a personal best of 26 points from a try and 11 goals.

In 1995 and 1996, Wishart was awarded the BHP Medal as the Steelers' player of the year. During this time, Wishart remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League during the Super League War. He played in NSW's surprise 3-0 loss to Queensland in the 1995 State of Origin series, and retained his place on the wing for Australia in all three tests of the 1995 Trans-Tasman series against New Zealand, won 3-0 by the ARL only Australian's (the ARL had ruled that Super League aligned players were not eligible for selection, however most believed he would have been selected regardless). He top scored for Australia during the series with one try in the third test, and 17 goals, including kicking 5/5 in both the first and second tests and contributing another 7/9 in the third test in Brisbane.

At the end of 1995, Rod Wishart scored a try in Australia's 16-8 win over England in front of 66,540 at London's famous Wembley Stadium in the World Cup Final.

The 1996 ARL season again saw Wishart in good form on the wing for the Steelers. He played in all three games of the 1996 State of Origin series won 3-0 by the Blues as well as playing on the wing for Australia in their 84-14 demolition of Fiji at the Marathon Stadium in Newcastle, as well as the end of season 52-6 win over Papua New Guinea at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby. Wishart was again the Steelers leading point scorer in 1996, scoring 160 points from 14 tries and 52 goals. His 14 tries in 1996 were to be a career best for the powerful winger.

A serious shoulder injury restricted Wishart to just 5 games in 1997. Injury also restricted him to just 15 games in 1998.

By the end of the Illawarra Steelers final season in 1998, Rod Wishart had set a number of club point scoring records.

St. George Illawara Dragons

When the Steelers formed the St George Illawarra Dragons in 1999 with St George, Wishart was a part of the new 25-man squad, however he mostly played from the interchange bench, with former St George wingers Jamie Ainscough and Nathan Blacklock being selected ahead of him. Following the Dragons' 1999 NRL Grand Final loss, in which Wishart played from the bench, he retired from the NRL.

Throughout his career, Wishart's success as a player made him a marketable commodity. Most noticeably he had a long association with the Wollongong car dealership Tory Toyota, culminating in a model being named after him – The Wishy Workhorse, a run-out model Hilux with free extras and a Rod Wishart signature decal on the truck body.

Post playing

In 2005 he was named one of the 25 greatest ever New South Wales rugby league team players.

Wishart appeared in the 2006 film, Footy Legends.

References

  1. ↑ David Middleton (1989). Rugby League 1988-89. Paddington, New South Wales: Lester-Townsend Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 0-949853-19-4.

External links