Michael William Cronin OAM (born 28 June 1951)[2] is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach.
Cronin retired as the NSWRL Premiership's and the Australian Kangaroos' all-time highest point-scorer[3] and has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.
He was so good that when his team made the semi-finals the opposition appealed against Cronin's inclusion on residence grounds, claiming he was from Gerringong.
By this time Cronin was one of the most eminent rugby league centres in the world, yet he continually rejected big money offers to go to Sydney and played for his home town of Gerringong on the NSW South Coast, where a field is now named in his honour.
In 1977 Cronin joined the Parramatta Eels but for many years continued to commute to training and matches from Gerringong where he owned and was publican of the local hotel.
Cronin was a member of Parramatta's star studded backlines of the early 1980s playing alongside Brett Kenny, Steve Ella, Peter Sterling and Eric Grothe.
Alongside teammate Ray Price, Cronin enjoyed a fairy tale last match end to his career in the 1986 Grand Final where he kicked both goals in the Eels' 4–2 victory over Canterbury-Bankstown.
Cronin played 216 games in ten years with Parramatta placing him equal fourth with Bob O'Reilly on the list of most first grade appearances.
This archrivalry was typified by the Cronin/Beetson altercation; notwithstanding that it was quickly forgotten and that they sat next to each other on the return plane trip to Sydney and did not mention the incident.
In 2009 he coached the Gerringong Lions in the Group 7 Rugby League competition until stepping down from the top job after winning a premiership in 2020.