Aaron Whittaker

Aaron Whittaker

Personal information
Full name	Aaron Mervyn Rutane Whittaker [1]
Born	(1968-07-09) 9 July 1968 (age 55) Christchurch, New Zealand
Height	163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	80 kg (12 st 8 lb; 180 lb)
Playing information
Position	Halfback, Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 19?? Halswell (CRL) 19?? Riccarton (CRL) 1992 Illawarra Steelers 2 0 0 0 0 1994–95 Canterbury Cardinals 27 9 53 9 151 1994–95 Wakefield Trinity 7 13 1 55 1997–98 Auckland Warriors 8 1 1 1 7 Total 37 17 67 11 213 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1990–99 Canterbury 17 13 0 0 52 1993–94 New Zealand 3 0 0 0 0 2001 South Island 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [2] As of 30 December 2008

Aaron Whittaker (born 9 July 1968) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer. A New Zealand international representative halfback, he played club football in Australia, England and New Zealand. ^[2]

Early years

Whittaker grew up in Christchurch and was a Schoolboy Kiwi in 1983 before becoming part of the dominant Canterbury rugby league side of the early nineties. ^[3] The side was coached by Frank Endacott and included future stars such as Whetu Taewa, Quentin Pongia and Brent Stuart. ^[4] In Christchurch he played for two clubs: the Halswell Hornets and the Riccarton Knights. ^[5]

His form was impressive enough to land a contract in the NSWRL Premiership, signing with the Illawarra Steelers in 1992. Whittaker played in three games for the club, including a try-scoring effort against the Great Britain touring side, returning to New Zealand at the end of the year. ^[6]

In 1993, Whittaker was selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team. He went on to play thirteen games for the national side, although only three were test matches. During this time, he trained with Gary Freeman and Daryl Halligan and this allowed him to improve his halfback and goal kicking skills. In 1994, he was part of the Kiwis tour of Papua New Guinea. ^[7] Between 1990 and 1994, he played in 17 games for Canterbury, scoring thirteen tries. ^[6]

England

In 1994, he played for the Canterbury Cardinals in the new Lion Red Cup and at the half way stage was the competition's leading points scorer. As a result, he began to attract interest from overseas clubs and agreed to a mid-season transfer, joining Wakefield Trinity. He returned to the Cardinals in the English offseason and played in part of the 1995 Lion Red Cup. ^[8]

Return to New Zealand

After a spell in England, he returned to New Zealand, signing for the Auckland Warriors. He played nine games for the Warriors in the 1997 and 1998 seasons ^[9]

After being released by the Warriors, he returned to local football in Canterbury, playing for his old side the Haswell Hornets. ^[10] In 2001, he was involved in the South Island team that played the touring French side. ^{[11] [12]}

Later years

In 2002, he was named the head trainer for the New Zealand 'A' sides tour of France and the United States, a position he retained for the sides 2003 tour of Australia, where he worked under former teammate Terry Hermansson. ^{[13] [14]}

He is now involved with the Currumbin Eagles JRL ^[15] as a coach where he has steered numerous teams to finals contention. He also is involved with the Gold Coast Rugby League as a referee. ^[4]

References

1. WHITTAKER, AARON MERVYN RUTANE 1993 - 94 - KIWI #648 Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
3. Coffey, John. Canterbury XIII, Christchurch, 1987.
4. "Canterbury trampled over Auckland". The Press . 12 September 2008. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018.
5. Canterbury Rugby League ^{[ permanent dead link ]}Rugby League in New Zealand
6. "Aaron Whittaker". NZWarriors.com. NZ Warriors. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
7. New Zealand Tour of Australia and PNG 1994 The Vault
8. Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1995, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1995. p.110
9. "Old boys alert at Mount Smart Stadium today". www.warriors.kiwi. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
10. Panthers peaking at right time ^{[ dead link ]}The Press, 27 July 1998
11. Raper's first defeat halts Wigan march The Independent, 3 June 2001^{[ dead link ]}
12. Teams named for French opener AAP Sports News, 1 June 2001^{[ dead link ]}
13. Hermansson gets NZ Appointment rleague.com, 8 July 2003.
14. 2002 NZ A Archived 2008-07-18 at the Wayback Machine NZRL Official Site
15. "Currumbin Eagles JRL". Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2019.