Schifcofske made his first grade debut for the now defunct South Queensland side in Round 5 1996 against the
North Sydney Bears at
North Sydney Oval. However his rookie season was marred by a five match suspension after testing positive for a banned testosterone-based supplement. The following year, Schifcofske made 17 appearances for the club as they finished last on the table for the second consecutive year. Schifcofske played in South Queensland's last ever game as a club which was against Western Suburbs which South Queensland won 39–18 with Schifcofske scoring a try and kicking 7 goals. In 1998, Schifcofske joined Parramatta and played every game of the 1998 season as the club finished 4th on the table. Schifcofske scored a try in the first half of the match as Parramatta took a 10–2 lead going into half time. With Parramatta leading 18–2 with less than 10 minutes to play, Canterbury staged a comeback scoring 3 tries in 8 minutes with Canterbury player
Daryl Halligan kicking 2 goals from the sideline to tie the game at 18-18. Parramatta player
Paul Carige then made a series of personal errors which cost Parramatta dearly in extra time with Canterbury going on to win 32–20. In 1999, Parramatta finished 2nd on the ladder and qualified for the finals with Schifcofske playing every match. Parramatta went on to reach the preliminary final against Melbourne. Parramatta lead the match 16–0 at halftime before a second half capitulation similar to what happened a year earlier occurred with Melbourne winning 18–16. In 2000, Parramatta finished 7th and qualified for the finals with the media dubbing the team "The Baby Eels" due to the age of the squad. Parramatta and Schifcofske would reach their third consecutive preliminary final with the opponents being favorites Brisbane. Brisbane went on to win the match 16–10. This would be the last game Schifcofske would play for the club and he was released at the end of 2000. Schifcofske then signed with Canberra. In 2001 and 2004 Schifcofske was named the
Canberra Raiders' player of the year. In 2006 he was made captain of the club. In the same year, due to an injury incurred by
Karmichael Hunt, Schifcofske was chosen in the
Queensland Maroons side for the
2006 State of Origin series decider. He was the Maroons' third fullback for the series after
Matt Bowen was dropped after Game One. During the middle of the 2006 season he made the decision to switch codes from Rugby League to Rugby Union signing a two-year deal with the
Queensland Reds for the
2007 season. During the 2006 season, one of Schifcofske's penalty goal attempts in a match against the
Wests Tigers was the subject of
Ray Warren's commentary; as he was taking the shot, Warren called the words: "
Eddie Jones (who was at the time the coach of the
Queensland Reds), if you're watching..." and Schifcofske nailed the shot. In the same match, he nailed a field goal in golden point to win Canberra the match. He had the best goal kicking success rate in the
NRL ahead of both
Andrew Johns and
Hazem El Masri. His final NRL match was played at Telstra Stadium on 9 September 2006 against the Canterbury Bulldogs where the Raiders were knocked out of the finals race. He finished the
2006 NRL season as the Raiders' top point-scorer. Schifcofske ran 3,741 metres with the ball in 2006, more than any other player in the competition. Schifcofske's 1,604 points in first grade placed him 9th in Australian rugby league's all-time top point scoring list. ==Rugby union==