Parramatta Eels legend Peter 'Sterlo' Sterling sells longtime Central Coast estate
Parramatta Eels legend Peter 'Sterlo' Sterling and his wife Selina have sold their longtime Central Coast estate.
The couple are likely to to downsize locally.
Sterlo's who has had ongoing NRL commentary commitments with Channel 9, has been at the home since the mid-1990s.
It was in 1997 when two lots totalling over three hectares were bought for $495,000 just before they had their first child James.
Hannah followed three years later, with the pair now 18 and 21.
296 Plenty Road, Preston
There's been no price disclosure, but buyers were being asked for offers between $3 million and $3.3 million.
Surrounded by tropical gardens, the home has four bedrooms, a media room and an office space.
A verandah wraps around the home, while the master suite, complete with walk-in wardrobe and ensuite, has its own private decking.
An infinity pool, entertainment area with built-in barbecue and outdoor kitchen, as well as a number of horse paddocks, sit in the grounds.
McGrath Terrigal agents Mat Steinwede and Trevor Hamilton had the home for sale for 26 days.
Sterling was introduced to the Central Coast by good mate Paul Taylor, having played together in Parramatta's first rugby league premiership side in 1981.
Taylor then played and coached for The Entrance in the twilight years of his league career before shifting to Queensland.
The couple first spent a year on a property in neighbouring Holgate, all the time looking for a special piece of the Central Coast they could call home.
"Selina and I drove around all over the place," Sterling recalled in a 2002 profile which added that his dad and sister were at nearby Killarney Vale.
Sterlo owned for a few years in Collaroy until 1997 and before that had been at Castle Hill.
"When we came into Matcham I said 'I'd really like to live here one day."
Just twelve months later he was - on eight-and-a-half acres of private, rolling hillside with enough room for the horses and an environment perfect for raising children.
"I look out there now and I see the value in what we've done," he said long before it was worth its current $3 million plus.
"Life doesn't get much better than this," he once said.
"A lot of people think that I spend most of my time away from home with my television commitments and so on, but that's not true, I spend most of my time here.
He said he and Selina are real home bodies.
"We're not real beach people, although we do get down to Wamberal a fair bit during summer."
The couple used to ride all the time.
Sterlo, one of the all-time great halfbacks, was a major influence in the Eels dominance in the 1980s.
He played 227 games for the Eels, winning four Premierships.
He represented The Blues in the State of Origin 13 times and was inducted into the ARL Hall of Fame in 2006.
Sterlo started his commentary career with Western Sydney radio station 2WS and Channel 10, before moving to the Nine Network.
He later went on to host The Sunday Footy Show, anchoring the program from the show's inception in 1993 until the end of the 2015 season when Yvonne Sampson took the reins.
He was co-host of Nine's The NRL Footy Show for 12 years alongside Paul Vautin and currently hosts Nine's 'Thursday Night Football' and On the Couch with Sterlo.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.