Jarrod McCracken

Jarrod McCracken (born 27 March 1970) is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer of the 1990s. He is a former captain of the New Zealand national rugby league team and is the son of New Zealand rugby league international, Ken McCracken. McCracken played club football in Australia, captaining both the Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers during his career which ended with a spear tackle which he successfully sued for. During his time in the game, McCracken was regarded as one of the hardest running and most damaging Centres in the world.

McCracken played for the Glenora Bears and first went to Australia in 1989 when he was sent to the North Sydney Bears as part of the New Zealand Rugby League Rookie Scheme. He spent the 1989 NSWRL season playing in the lower grades for Norths before moving to Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast in 1990 where he represented North Coast against the touring French side that year.

McCracken was playing his football in Port Macquarie when he was spotted by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Chief Executive Peter Moore who persuaded the young Centre to join The Bulldogs in 1991, and he ended up staying with the club until 1995, although he also spent the 1992/93 English season with St. Helens. During the Super League war he joined the Parramatta Eels being appointed co-captain, before moving to the Wests Tigers in 2000 where he became the franchise's first captain.