In 2003 he became the weekend presenter of "National Nine News Sydney", occasionally filling in for Jim Waley on weeknights whenever required. He presented the flagship 6:00 pm weeknight news in Waley's absence in the final quarter of 2003 when he took leave to battle skin cancer, and during the 2004-05 non-ratings period, in which the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami disaster in south-east Asia occurred. His efforts during this coverage, which drew high ratings for Nine, saw him retain the main weeknight presenting role on a permanent basis, replacing Waley, under whom the bulletin had retained a comfortable ratings lead following the retirement of Brian Henderson in 2002. However, due to dwindling ratings at the Nine Network, Ferguson was replaced by Peter Overton in January 2009 and demoted back to his former weekend presenting role.