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Peter Sterling

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Peter Sterling (born June 16, 1960 in Toowoomba, Queensland), nicknamed Sterlo, was one of the greatest rugby league players of all time and the major driving force behind Parramatta's dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986. Many rate him the best halfback ever to play rugby league: he is in league with the likes of Duncan Thompson, Alex Murphy and Andrew Johns.

Rugby league career

Unusual for a rugby league player in his small size and lack of pace, Sterling far more than compensated with his amazing control and organisational skills which allowed Parramatta's all-star back line of Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin and the injury-plagued Steve Ella and Eric Grothe a great deal of ball. His kicking, backed up by Kenny and Ray Price's superb chasing, almost always gave Parramatta an advantage in territory when they were in their prime. His amazingly fast mind meant, as opponents consistently testified, "Sterling would never make a wrong decision". As a defender, he was equally effective and would almost never miss a tackle, whilst if a ball was loose, Sterling would never fail to collect it.

Strangely for a man of such limited pace, Sterling made his first appearance as a stand-in fullback during the amazing and controversial 1978 finals series. After a few games at five-eighth in 1979, Sterling was shifted to halfback and established himself in 1980. However, 1981 saw Parramatta win their initial first grade title and Sterling's superb skill and control was already one of the most decisive factors. He played for New South Wales that year without living up to his club form, but in 1982 Parramatta, apart from a 0-20 thrashing in the major semi at the hands of a brilliant Manly, could do no wrong and Sterling played so well that, despite having not played for his State in the State of Origin series, he was chosen on the Kangaroo tour and played in every Test for a team that was not beaten.

Sterling played in Australia's shock 12-19 Test loss to New Zealand in 1983 and helped Parramatta to their third successive title that year. After playing for Hull over the Australian summer, Sterling vacated his Test spot despite winning the Rugby League Week Player of the Year award in 1984 for the first time. In the 1984 grand final, Sterling had few opportunities due to the power of the Canterbury forwards, and he did not play for Parramatta in the first half of 1985 as he was with Hull. His superb skills for Hull are rated as some of the best performance in English club rugby league, and, though he was relatively quiet upon his return to Parramatta, at the end of the season Sterling's skill allowed Parramatta to crush Balmain (twice) and Penrith to move from doubtful finalists to the preliminary final - where, however, a ruthless Canterbury side crushed them by 26 points to nil.

1986 saw Sterling almost carry a clean sweep of the major awards - except for a shock defeat in the Rothmans Medal - and win the inaugural Clive Churchill medal in Parramatta's fourth grand final victory. He again played every Test on an unbeated Kangaroo tour in England later that year. Despite Parramatta declining from premiers to seventh with Cronin and Price retiring and Grothe and Ella playing very little due to injuries, 1987 was undoubtedly Sterling's finest year. He sweeped all the major player of the year awards - winning the Rothmans Medal by five points, the Dally M player of the year award, and the Rugby League Week player of the year award. He also produced the most amazing indivdual performance against Easts: scoring three tries and setting up the other three as Parramatta won 32-2.

1988 saw Sterling produce several amazing displays for Parramatta despite the team having a most disappointing year as Kenny played only two games. However, in the last Test against Great Britain he suffered a serious shoulder injury and did not play again. In 1989 Sterling, though unwilling to play representative rugby league, was as brilliant as ever for Parramatta until an ankle injury ended his season and put paid to him playing out his career in England as he planned earlier that year. 1990, though, saw Sterling play a full season at the top of his form and lead a young Parramatta side to an excellent placing with his iron-fisted control. He was so brilliant he won a second Rothmans Medal, but in the last match against Manly his shoulder injury recurred so badly that, despite Parramatta signing him for two more seasons, Sterling was only able to play four games before the shoulder was clearly too badly damaged for him ever to contemplate playing again.

Sterling played 229 games for Parramatta, scoring 48 tries, one goal, and 15 field goals.

Post-playing career

His sharp intelligence, however, made Sterling a natural commentator and after it was clear he could not play again he took to commentating on Channel Nine, after an initial media stint with Western Sydney radio station, 2WS. He maintained the Channel Nine position until Illawarra showed interest in him as an assistant coach during the crisis caused by Super League in 1995. Sterling held this role only briefly before Illawarra merged with St George. Since then, Sterling has returned to hosting The Rugby League Footy Show with Paul Vautin, which he first did in 1994.

In 1995, Sterling was the overwhelming choice at halfback in a poll to judge the best Australian team since the introduction of the limited-tackle rule in 1967. He won eight of fourteen votes, with the remainder going to Billy Smith, Ricky Stuart and Allan Langer.

External links

 

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