Peter "Sterlo" Sterling is an Australian former rugby league commentator, television personality and player. He was one of the all-time great halfbacks and a major contributor to Parramatta Eels' dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in the 1980s. Sterling played eighteen Tests for the Australian national team between 1982 and 1988. He also played in thirteen State of Origins for New South Wales.

Peter Sterling was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, and raised in Raymond Terrace and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. He commenced his playing career at the age of fourteen when he joined the Wagga Wagga Kangaroo Panthers in 1974. Sterling compensated for a lack of size and pace with control and organisational skills that allowed Parramatta's all-star back line of Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin, Steve Ella and Eric Grothe a great deal of ball. His kicking, backed up by Kenny and Ray Price's superb chasing, often gave Parramatta an advantage in territory. His fast mind meant that he rarely made a wrong decision.

Sterling joined the Parramatta Eels in 1978, making his first appearance as a Fullback during the 1978 finals series, in the 17–11 minor semi-final replay loss to eventual premiers Manly. After a few games at Five-eighth in 1979, Sterling shifted to halfback and established himself as a player to watch in 1980. 1981 saw the Jack Gibson-coached Eels win their first Grand Final with a 20–11 win over the Tommy Raudonikis-led Newtown Jets, with Sterling's superb skill and control one of the decisive factors.

He made his State of Origin début for NSW in the 1981 State of Origin game, setting up a try for Mick Cronin, though the Wally Lewis-captained Queenslanders turned a ten-point half time deficit into a seven-point, 22–15 win. Sterling himself admitted he was a surprise choice for NSW as he had only made his representative début a few weeks earlier when he played for City Seconds and rated himself as fifth in line for the NSW job. He was ultimately selected over his long-time rival for the NSW halfback spot, Canterbury-Bankstowns Steve Mortimer who had debuted for Australia in their two-Test series win over France only weeks before the Origin game.

In 1982, Parramatta could seemingly do no wrong, winning the minor premiership by four games over Manly. Though they were beaten 20–0 by Manly in the major semi-final, the Eels then thrashed Eastern Suburbs 33–0 in the preliminary final, before going on to turn the tables on the Sea Eagles with a 21–8 victory in the Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground to win their second successive premiership. Sterling went about cementing his place in the Kangaroos’ "A" side and went on to make his Test début for Australia in the first Ashes Test against Great Britain at Boothferry Park in Hull. The 1982 Kangaroos went on to become the first team to go through Great Britain and France undefeated, earning them the nickname "The Invincibles", and was a personal success for Sterling who played in all five Tests against Great Britain and France, and cemented his place as the world's best halfback.

Sterling then helped Parramatta to a third successive Grand Final win with an 18–6 win, again over runaway minor premiers Manly. Following his third successive premiership and his fifth overall, Jack Gibson, a man Peter Sterling held high praise for as both a person and a coach, shocked the establishment and resigned as Parramatta coach. Following the 1982 Kangaroo Tour, Sterling had been highly sought after by English clubs and he went on to play for Hull F.C. in the 1983–84 English season. Sterling played scrum-half, and was man of the match in winning the White Rose Trophy with a 29–12 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1984 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1984–85 season.

He was then chosen for Game 1 of the 1984 State of Origin series, but lost his place to Steve Mortimer for the rest of the series. Sterling was then overlooked for the home Ashes series against Great Britain in 1984, but would still go on to win the Rugby League Week Player of the Year award for the first time. In the 1984 Grand Final, Sterling and longtime halves partner Brett Kenny had few opportunities against Mortimer's Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs whose forwards dominated the Eels pack and gave the star pairing little room to move. The narrow 6–4 loss to the Bulldogs ended the John Monie-coached Parramatta's bid for a fourth successive premiership.

Though he was relatively quiet upon his return to Parramatta, at the end of the season Sterling's skill allowed Parramatta to defeat Balmain (twice, the second a 32–4 win in the Minor-Semi) and Penrith (Minor Preliminary-Semi), to move from doubtful finalists to the Preliminary Final – where a ruthless Canterbury side on their way to a second successive premiership, easily accounted for the Eels 26–0. As a result of his decision to play in England and miss the first part of the NSWRL premiership, Sterling lost his place in the NSW side in the 1985 State of Origin series to Steve Mortimer, who led the Blues to their first ever series win over Queensland.

While playing for Hull in the early part of 1985, Sterling led the team, which also included a number of internationals such as; fullback Gary Kemble, wingers Dane O'Hara and James Leuluai and his halves partner Fred Ah Kuoi (all NZ), centre Garry Schofield (GB), Parramatta second-rower John Muggleton (Aus), and goal kicking forward (and Hull captain) Lee Crooks (GB), into the 1985 Challenge Cup Final.

Sterling played scrum-half in Hull F.C.'s 24–28 defeat by Wigan in the final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 4 May 1985, in front of a crowd of 99,801, in what is regarded as the most marvellous cup final in living memory,[6] which Hull narrowly lost after fighting back from 12–28 down at half-time, with Sterling's Parramatta halves partner Brett Kenny (playing for Wigan) was voted man of the match winning the Lance Todd Trophy. Sterling, who produced a great game in both attack and defense, had gone into the game as one of the shortest priced favourites to win the Lance Todd Trophy, with bookmakers in Hull allegedly refusing to field any more bets on Sterling in the week leading up to the game.

1986 saw Sterling almost carry a clean sweep of the major awards – except the Rothmans Medal – and win the inaugural Clive Churchill Medal in Parramatta's fourth Grand Final victory, reversing the 1984 result with a 4–2 win over Canterbury-Bankstown to send the retiring Mick Cronin and team captain Ray Price out as premiership winners. 1986 also saw the Parramatta with their own home ground for the first time since over-excited fans had burned down the old Cumberland Oval grandstand during the 1981 Grand Final celebrations. During the year he was also part of the NSW Team which swept Queensland 3–0 in the State of Origin series (the first time in series history a team had won all three games), winning man of the match in Game II at the SCG.

Sterling won The Rothman's medal in 1987 and 1990 but only featured in one match of The 1991 season after suffering a shoulder injury. He returned to the field in 1992, but his shoulder was injured again after being hit in a hard tackle. Sterling 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.

In 2000 Sterling was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. He was also inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in that year. In 2006, he was one of six past players to be inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame at the Dally M. Awards 2006 award ceremony. In February 2008, Sterling was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.