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Ex-NRL star Mark McGaw returns to referee Gladiators in Australia show
The rebirth of a hit reality TV show from the 90s will have a serious rugby league feel when it airs with former NRL players Mark McGaw, Sandor Earl and host Beau Ryan.
Brent Read and Michael Carayannis
5 min read
December 9, 2023 - 6:23PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
The Hammer is back. Nearly 30 years after starring in the original series of Gladiators in Australia, former Cronulla, South Sydney and NSW star Mark McGaw is set to play a central role in the rebirth of the hit television series.
McGaw was known as Hammer when the show first appeared on Australian television screens in the mid-1990s. Remarkably, at the time he was in the final days of a rugby league career at the Rabbitohs.
Now the show is set to return in early-January on Network 10 and McGaw will once again take centre stage, this time as a referee. Casting agents for the show originally contacted McGaw hoping to get in touch with his son Torey about auditioning for a role as one of the Gladiators.
Hosts Beau Ryan and Liz Ellis with former rugby league star Mark McGaw, who will appear on the revived TV show, Gladiators, which will air on 10 in January, 2024. Picture: Supplied
“I said Torey is over in America at the moment – he has been over there for a while,” McGaw said.
“While we were having a chat I was talking to him about who the hosts were. I said, ’Well you need a big, ugly guy to keep them in line as a referee’.
“So I put my hand up. The rest is history.”
McGaw is now 59 and relishing the chance to be involved in the return of the show he helped make a hit in the 90s. It will have a real rugby league flavour - former Melbourne winger Sandor Earl is one of the Gladiators and the host is ex-Cronulla and Tigers winger Beau Ryan.
“We die with our experiences don’t we?” McGaw said.
McGaw will be a referee on the revived TV show, Gladiators, which will air on 10 in January, 2024. Credit: Supplied.
“One thing you never say to people is you never finish your life at 59. I am just starting really. I met so many good people (as a Gladiator), learnt what it was like to be in that sort of game, how it worked, it was quite interesting.
“I was actually playing my last year of footy and trying to get around that. I was recovering from a broken leg at the time.
“As much as I appreciated everything back then, because you are a little bit older every minute is absorbed and enjoyed.
“This time you go round and meet everyone, make sure you chat for 10 minutes and get to know who they are and what they do.”
The rebirth of a hit reality TV show from the 90s will have a serious rugby league feel when it airs with former NRL players Mark McGaw, Sandor Earl and host Beau Ryan.
Brent Read and Michael Carayannis
5 min read
December 9, 2023 - 6:23PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
The Hammer is back. Nearly 30 years after starring in the original series of Gladiators in Australia, former Cronulla, South Sydney and NSW star Mark McGaw is set to play a central role in the rebirth of the hit television series.
McGaw was known as Hammer when the show first appeared on Australian television screens in the mid-1990s. Remarkably, at the time he was in the final days of a rugby league career at the Rabbitohs.
Now the show is set to return in early-January on Network 10 and McGaw will once again take centre stage, this time as a referee. Casting agents for the show originally contacted McGaw hoping to get in touch with his son Torey about auditioning for a role as one of the Gladiators.
Hosts Beau Ryan and Liz Ellis with former rugby league star Mark McGaw, who will appear on the revived TV show, Gladiators, which will air on 10 in January, 2024. Picture: Supplied
“I said Torey is over in America at the moment – he has been over there for a while,” McGaw said.
“While we were having a chat I was talking to him about who the hosts were. I said, ’Well you need a big, ugly guy to keep them in line as a referee’.
“So I put my hand up. The rest is history.”
McGaw is now 59 and relishing the chance to be involved in the return of the show he helped make a hit in the 90s. It will have a real rugby league flavour - former Melbourne winger Sandor Earl is one of the Gladiators and the host is ex-Cronulla and Tigers winger Beau Ryan.
“We die with our experiences don’t we?” McGaw said.
McGaw will be a referee on the revived TV show, Gladiators, which will air on 10 in January, 2024. Credit: Supplied.
“One thing you never say to people is you never finish your life at 59. I am just starting really. I met so many good people (as a Gladiator), learnt what it was like to be in that sort of game, how it worked, it was quite interesting.
“I was actually playing my last year of footy and trying to get around that. I was recovering from a broken leg at the time.
“As much as I appreciated everything back then, because you are a little bit older every minute is absorbed and enjoyed.
“This time you go round and meet everyone, make sure you chat for 10 minutes and get to know who they are and what they do.”
