ET’s escape

From deep sea fishing to sampling some of the finest mahimahi burgers around, life has been a beach for Andrew Ettingshausen while he has been on the rock.

Known as ET, Ettingshausen’s presence on the island is certainly bound to have an effect on rugby league followers in the Cook Islands.

Having played 328 first-grade games for Cronulla Sharks, the most by any player at one club, the winger-come-centre also played 27 State of Origin matches for New South Wales and 24 tests for Australia.

Ettingshausen’s NRL career was spent entirely at the Sydney club, where he played before a chronic back injury saw him wave goodbye in 2000 after his final match against the Warriors.

Four years later, the 46-year-old league legend – one of three Immortals at the Cronulla Sharks club – reappeared on television screens in Australia as the host of television show, Escape with ET.

The Cronulla Sharks legend has been on Rarotonga since Friday and along with wife Monique and youngest daughter Sienna (12) have been mixing business with pleasure over the last five days.

“I was deep-sea fishing with Captain Moko and we had a great day out on the water. The winds were a bit lighter than Monday but we caught a big wahoo, two mahimahi and they were all over 30 pounds,” Ettingshausen said.

“We had a beaut morning out there with him and he just knows his fishing so well and it was such a great experience.”

From there it was freshly cooked mahimahi burgers at The Mooring Cafe, which he described as “bloody good”.

Yesterday the family snorkelled the Muri lagoon before a cultural show at Te Vara Nui that night.

Aitutaki is the next port of call for the group, who fly out today and spend the next few days fly fishing and game fishing on the island.

Ettingshausen has been so impressed with the island that he has decided to stay on an extra week, and will be joined by eldest daughters Tiarne (22) and Shalea (18) on Saturday.

Of course, there is also another important event happening that day – the NRL Grand Final.

The Sydneysider said the match will be incredibly close and sees an attacking team in the Storm take on a grinding Bulldogs outfit for the biggest prize in rugby league.

“The Melbourne Storm might have that little bit of X-Factor,” Ettingshausen said.

“The Bulldogs have been amazing this year. [Coach] Des Hasler is a great mate of mine and he’s done a fantastic job to get them to the grand final after placing almost zero last year.”

“It’s going to be very close.”