[citation needed] Wishart, who played both centre and wing in his junior years, grew up in his home town of Gerringong.
[3] Wishart played his first match for the Illawarra Steelers in 1989, finished his rookie season as the club's top point-scorer with 84 from 2 tries and 37 goals from his 19 games.
[citation needed] During the season he scored a try in the Steelers 18–20 loss to the Brisbane Broncos in the 1989 Panasonic Cup Final at Parramatta Stadium.
Wishart failed to regain his test place in 1993, despite good performances for the Steelers and NSW, who won their second Origin series in a row with selectors preferring the Brisbane Broncos pair of Willie Carne (who made his test debut in the same game as Wishart in 1991) and Michael Hancock.
He played in NSW's surprise 3–0 loss to Queensland in the 1995 State of Origin series, though he retained his place on the wing for Australia in all three tests of the 1995 Trans-Tasman series against New Zealand, won 3-0 by the ARL only Australian's (the ARL had ruled that Super League aligned players were not eligible for selection).
[citation needed] At the end of 1995, Rod Wishart scored a try in Australia's 16–8 win over England in front of 66,540 at London's Wembley Stadium in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup final.
[citation needed] By the end of the Illawarra Steelers final season in 1998, Rod Wishart had set a number of club point scoring records.
His daughter Riley is engaged to Manly Sea Eagles goal kicking outside back and another Gerringong junior, Reuben Garrick.