Ben Ross

Benjamin David "Ben" Ross (born 23 May 1980 in Chinchilla, Queensland) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Penrith Panthers (with whom he won the 2003 NRL Premiership), Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Playing career

Ben Ross played junior football for the Nambour Crushers. In 2002, Ross made his NRL debut for the St George Illawarra Dragons 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. NRL CEO, David Gallop, ordered a policy change which would enable players to be charged for on-field fights.

Ben Ross (Australian rules footballer)

Ben Ross (born 21 September 1988) is an Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. He was rookie listed by Hawthorn in the 2013 AFL Rookie Draft after previously playing for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League between 2007 and 2011.

North Melbourne

Ross was selected by the Kangaroos with Pick 3 in the 2006 AFL Pre-Season Draft. Ross initially broke into the senior team for the Round 4 win against Melbourne in 2007. He continued to play in other games during the season to pick up a career high 21 possessions and a goal against Port Adelaide, before his year was cut short by injury. He played 9 out of 19 games in 2009.

Ross was delisted by North Melbourne at the end of 2011 after playing 14 games over four injury-interrupted seasons

Werribee

He continued to play for Werribee in the Victorian Football League (VFL), winning the 2012 J. J. Liston Trophy as the best player in the league. He had a delayed start to the 2013 season because he went overseas for travel purposes hence he missed most of the pre-season training.