Education
Fitzgerald attended Wirreanda High School and played junior football for Portuguese Noarlunga.
Fitzgerald attended Wirreanda High School and played junior football for Portuguese Noarlunga.
After being drafted from the South Adelaide Football Club, he made his Australian Football League debut for Sydney in 2000, before being traded to Adelaide, where he played eight games in 2002. Fitzgerald later appeared in Big Brother Australia 2004, beginning a wider media career in television on Channel 10"s Saturday night American Federation of Labor-Congress show Before The Game. A tall forward drafted by the Sydney Swans with the 4th overall selection in the 1998 American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft from South Australian National Football League club, South Adelaide, Fitzgerald was unable to make his American Federation of Labor-Congress debut until 2000, due to a shoulder injury.
On debut, Fitzgerald kicked five goals and "looked set for a big career".
He played nine more games for the rest of the season. At the start of 2001, Fitzgerald injured his knee, requiring a reconstruction that resulted in him missing the entire season.
In 2002, he was traded to the Adelaide Crows, but only played eight games for the Crows before retiring from American Federation of Labor-Congress football due to another Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury that required a reconstruction. Fitzgerald was a contestant in Big Brother Australia 2004, and finished in fourth place at the conclusion of the show.
After that he became co-host of the Adelaide Nova 91.9 Breakfast show and made occasional appearances on Before The Game (American Federation of Labor-Congress).
In 2005 he had a new role as a co-host on the new Friday night Big Brother Australia show Friday Night Live with fellow Big Brother 2004 contestant Bree American, which became a stand-alone show in its own right in 2006 as Friday Night Games. This show then returned as Friday Night Download, featuring internet videos. lieutenant was cancelled early in its second season.
Alongside Premier Mike Rann, he spoke at the opening of the Rundle Lantern in Adelaide.
Ryan married Belinda "BJ" Irons on 15 March 2008 at Adelaide Oval and together they have two sons. In October 2010, Fitzgerald announced that he would be leaving Nova 91.9 Breakfast to be a part of Nova"s drive show Fitzy and Wippa, which then became the Nova 96.9 Sydney breakfast show.
Fitzy and Wippa were nominated for the 2011 Australian Commercial Radio Awards in the best on-air team, Metro FM category. Fitzy is also a regular player in the East. J. Whitten Legends Game.
Fitzgerald makes regular appearances on The Project and Before The Game.
On 14 October 2012 (episode seven), he made his acting debut on the Nine Network show House Husbands. Ryan portrayed a bouncer at the strip club in the show.