From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryan 'Noughts' Cross (born October 6, 1979) was a rugby league footballer who played for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League(NRL) competition before switching codes to join the rugby union Super 14 side the Western Force in 2007.

Cross, a product of Waverly College was a member of the Australian Schoolboys side in both 1996 and 1997, some of his team mates being Matt Dunning, Adam Freier, David Lyons, George Smith, Phil Waugh, Sam Harris and Craig Wing. At 17 years He joined the Sydney Roosters rugby league club. He made his 1st grade debut on the 17 April in 1998, a match in which he scored 2 tries against the Manly Sea Eagles. But after a promising start to his league career, including a Grand Final appearance in 2000, the Roosters first in 20 yars, he was plagued by serious leg injuries. A broken leg seen him miss much of the 2001 season at a time when he was touted as being in line to make his state debut. Just a few matches into the 2002 season he suffered a major knee injury that kept him out for the remainder of that year. That season Sydney Roosters won the premiership, there first in 27 years, the premiership decider was played on the eve of his 23rd birthday. He came back the following season, finishing as the clubs leading try scorer. In 2004 and 2005 seasons the speedy centre was chosen to represent City. In June of 2006, after a period of speculation and rumors he signed with the Perth rugby unionSuper 14 side the Western Force.

Cross is the 5th highest try scorer in the clubs history with 85 tries from his 143 matches. The centre played in 3 Grand finals for the club, finishing runner-up on each occasion. His greatest attributes were his acceleration, his ability to 'explode' from a near standing start, and he possessed good upperbody strength.

Ryan's father, Paul Cross, was also An Eastern suberbs junior who playede on the wing for the club in the 1964 and '65 seasons. His brother Clay Cross is a notable shot put athlete.