Thirty years later, Elle and ‘spunky’ Ettingshausen reunite

Back in the early 1990s, when Elle Macpherson was a world-famous supermodel and Andrew Ettingshausen was the heartthrob captain of the Cronulla Sharks, she was photographed handing him an award for his 200th game.

It was a shot that electrified the country; Australia’s most beautiful woman with footy’s most handsome man. “I just remember thinking he was spunky,” recalled Macpherson, whose father was the boss of the Sharks. “And he still is.”

The pair re-created the photograph in Las Vegas on Friday, local time, where the Sharks will play in the NRL’s season kick-off the following day. Instead of a golden boot, Macpherson handed Ettingshausen a helmet.

They were almost 30 years older but no less photogenic. Macpherson, now 60, had not forgotten her modelling skills; flicked hair, ready smile, myriad poses. Ettingshausen, no stranger to the camera himself, was wooden by comparison.

By the end of the brief shoot, Ettingshausen, now 59, had drifted away and Macpherson was alone, throwing a football in the air. “C’mon Sharkies,” she said.

Ettingshausen blushed at her “spunky” remark. “That’s a bit of an honour,” he said. “I’ll whack that one on the wall.”

Macpherson’s father, Peter Gow, was the boss of Cronulla in the 1990s, steering it through a period of financial turmoil. She posed with Ettingshausen back in 1993 to support the Sharks, and re-created the photo in Las Vegas for the same reason.

Gow’s relationship with the club has had ups and downs; he was forced to resign as chief executive after an incident on Anzac Day in 1999, when he tore up a jersey of rival club St George and punched a former player who tried to get it back (he later said it was a joke gone wrong).