Ben Ross
Personal information
Full name	Benjamin David Ross
Born	23 May 1980 (1980-05-23) (age 29)
	Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia
Height	191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	110 kg (17 st 5 lb)
Playing information
Position	Prop
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2002	St. George Illawarra	8	0	0	0	0
2003–2005	Penrith Panthers	55	4	0	0	16
2006–2009	Cronulla Sharks	42	1	0	0	4
2010–	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	105	5	0	0	20
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2004–2005	Queensland	6	0	0	0	0
As of 29 August 2008

Ben Ross (born 23 May 1980 in Chinchilla, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. He has previously played club football for St. George Illawarra Dragons, Penrith Panthers and Cronulla Sharks whilst representing Queensland on a number of occasions. His position of choice is at prop.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Playing career

Ben Ross played junior football for the Nambour Crushers. In 2002, Ross made his first grade debut for St George Illawarra in a match against the Melbourne Storm.

Signing with Penrith in 2003, Ross helped to kick the season off to a blistering start after becoming involved in a brawl with Brisbane Broncos captain Gorden Tallis. Ross was on the receiving end of a series of upper-cut punches thrown by Tallis when Brisbane met Penrith in the first round of the year. Both players were sent off for ten minutes and no further action was taken by the judiciary. The Australian Football League (AFL) CEO, Wayne Jackson, used the incident to criticise the rival code which led to cross-border media exchanges.^[1][2] NRL CEO, David Gallop, ordered a policy change which would enable players to be charged for on-field fights.^[3]

Ross was a member of the Panthers' 2003 Premiership winning team in their 18–6 win over the Sydney Roosters. Although signed with Penrith until the end of 2007, Penrith announced they would have to release Ross due to salary-cap concerns.^[4]

Ross joined the Cronulla Sharks in 2006 but had little game time that year due to injury. In round 8, playing against his previous club, Penrith, Ross damaged his left knee tackling former flat-mate, Joel Clinton, in the first few minutes of the match.^[5] He was side-lined for the remainder of the season but was able to participate in the majority of the 2007 season.

In 2008 Ross was knocked out in the Sharks' season opener against the Sea Eagles but miracuously recovered to play in the team's round two encounter against the Storm in Melbourne. Ross in that match was sent off late in the second half for his late charge on Storm halfback Cooper Cronk which subsequently earned him a seven-match suspension.

[edit] Representative career

Following his successful season at Penrith, Ross was selected to represent Queensland as an interchange for all six games of the 2004 and 2005 State of Origin series.

[edit] Off-field

Ross was crowned the Sexiest Man in League in 2005 following a nation-wide phone poll. Later that year he was one of twelve of the Hottest Players in the NRL that posed for the League Of Their Own 2006 calendar that was produced in the style of the famous Dieux du Stade calendars to raise money for the Koori Kids foundation.

In 2006, Ross again posed in the nude for the Naked Rugby League 2007-08 charity calendar, with its sales to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia.

[edit] Career highlights

• First Grade Debut: 2002 - Round 6, St. George Illawarra vs Melbourne at Olympic Park, 20 April
• Premierships: 2003 - Penrith Panthers defeated Sydney Roosters
• Representative Selection: 2004 - Queensland State of Origin

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Ben Ross at NRL Stats
• Ben Ross at the Rugby League Project
• Ben Ross at Cronulla Sharks
• Ben Ross at the State of Origin official website.
• Ben Ross at the Former Origin Greats website.