Wikipedia

Nick Cotric

Nikola Čotrić (Serbian: Никола Чотрић, romanized: Nikola Čotrić; born 18 November 1998) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League, and Serbia at international level

Nick Cotric
Personal information
Full nameNikola Čotrić[1]
Born (1998-11-18) 18 November 1998 (age 26)
Cooma, New South Wales, Australia
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight98 kg (15 st 6 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017–20 Canberra Raiders 93 46 0 0 184
2021 Canterbury Bulldogs 14 3 0 0 12
2022–24 Canberra Raiders 42 14 0 0 56
2025– Catalans Dragons 0 0 0 0 0
Total 149 63 0 0 252
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2018 Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 4
2019 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0
2019 Australia 2 0 0 0 0
2024 Serbia 2 2 0 0 8
Source: [2] [3]
As of 16 October 2024

He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL and has played for at representative level for New South Wales in the State of Origin series as well as one game for the Prime Minister's XIII in 2018.

Background

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Cotric was born in Cooma, New South Wales, and is of Serbian descent.[4]

He played his junior rugby league for the Valley Dragons.

Playing career

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Early years

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In 2016, Cotric was a member of the Canberra Raiders' NYC team, playing 21 games primarily at centre.[5][6] In August 2016, Cotric re-signed with the Canberra outfit on a two-year contract until the end of 2018,[7] In 2016, Cotric played for the Australian Schoolboys.[8] On 5 September 2016, Cotric was named at centre in the 2016 NYC Team of the Year.[9]

2017

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Before the season started, Cotric was groomed to fill in the right-wing flank to fill the void made by the departure of Edrick Lee.[10] In February 2017, Cotric was named in the Raiders 2017 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[11] In Round 1 of the 2017 NRL season, Cotric made his NRL debut for the Canberra Raiders against the North Queensland Cowboys, playing on the wing in the 20-16 Golden Point loss at 1300SMILES Stadium.[12][13] In Round 3 against the Wests Tigers, Cotric scored his first NRL career try in the 46-6 win at Canberra Stadium.[14] On 13 September 2017, Cotric was awarded with Canberra's Rookie of the year at the Mal Meninga Medal Awards night.[15] On 27 September 2017, Cotric received the Rookie of the Year award at the 2017 Dally M Awards night.[14] Even though the Raiders didn’t make the top 8 into the finals, Cotric capped off a great debut season with him playing in all of the Canberra clubs 24 matches and scoring 16 tries in the 2017 NRL season. On 3 November 2017, Cotric extended his contract with the capital club to the end of the 2020 season.[16] On 19 December 2017, Cotric was selected in Brad Fittler’s emerging New South Wales squad.[17]

2018

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On 28 May 2018, Cotric was named as 18th man for New South Wales for Game 1 of the 2018 State of Origin series.[18] Cotric would play some matches at fullback towards the end of the season, filling in for the suspended Jack Wighton.[19] Cotric finished the 2018 NRL season with him playing in all of Canberra's 24 matches and scoring 12 tries. On 6 October 2018, Cotric played for the Prime Minister’s XIII against Papua New Guinea, playing on the wing and scoring a try in the 34-18 win at Port Moresby.[20] At the end of the season, statistics showed that Cotric was on top of tackle break count with 149, pipping the Sydney Roosters Grand Final winning fullback James Tedesco by two.[citation needed]

2019

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After a good start to the season, Cotric was selected to represent New South Wales in the 2019 State of Origin series. He played in game 1, which Queensland won 18-14, but was ruled out for Game 2 with an ankle injury.[citation needed]

In Round 17, Cotric was sent off for a dangerous lifting tackle on St George centre Tim Lafai, and suspended for three matches.[21][22][23]

Cotric played a total of 22 games for Canberra in the 2019 NRL season as the club reached their first grand final in 25 years. He played on the wing in the 2019 NRL Grand Final as they were defeated by the Sydney Roosters.[24][25][26]

On 7 October, Cotric was named in the Australian side for the Oceania Cup fixtures. He made his Test debut in Australia’s win over New Zealand at WIN Stadium, Wollongong, and also played in Australia’s following match, an unexpected loss to Tonga at Eden Park in Auckland.

2020

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In round 15 of the 2020 NRL season, Cotric scored two tries for Canberra in a 36-16 victory over the Gold Coast at Cbus Super Stadium. This followed on from the prior in round 14 where he scored two tries against Brisbane.[27]

On 22 July 2020, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs announced the signing of Cotric on a three-year deal starting in the 2021 season and rumoured to be worth around $600,000 per season.[28]

Cotric played 23 games for Canberra scoring 14 tries, finishing as the club's top try scorer. In his final game for Canberra which was the preliminary final, he scored two tries in a 30-10 loss against Melbourne.[29]

2021

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Cotric made his debut for Canterbury-Bankstown in round 1 of the 2021 NRL season against Newcastle which ended in a 32-16 defeat.[30]

On 30 June, it was announced that Cotric would miss the remainder of the 2021 NRL season with a toe injury.[31]

On 15 December, it was announced he would return to Canberra on a three-year deal starting in 2022.[32]

2022

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In round 20 of the 2022 NRL season, Cotric scored two tries for Canberra in a 36-24 victory over the Gold Coast. In round 21, Cotric was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous high tackle during Canberra's loss to Penrith. Cotric played a total of 21 games for the club in the 2022 NRL season including both of their finals matches against Melbourne and Parramatta.[33]

2023

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Cotric played a total of 13 matches for Canberra in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 8th on the table and qualified for the finals. Cotric played in Canberra's golden point extra-time elimination final loss to Newcastle.[34]

2024

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In June 2024, it was reported that he had signed for Catalans Dragons in the Super League on a three-year deal. Cotric was limited to only eight appearances with Canberra in the 2024 NRL season where he scored four tries.[35]

Statistics

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Season Club Games Tries Pts
2017   Canberra Raiders 24 16 64
2018 24 12 48
2019 22 4 16
2020 23 14 56
2021   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14 3 12
2022   Canberra Raiders 21 7 28
2023 13 3 12
2024 8 4 16
2025   Catalans Dragons 0 0 0
Totals 149 63 252

*denotes season still competing [36]

References

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  1. ^ Polkinghorne, David (30 July 2017). "Could Canberra Raiders rookie Nick Cotric be player of the year?". Canberra Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Nick Cotric - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project.
  3. ^ "Nick Cotric - Canberra Raiders". Canberra Raiders.
  4. ^ James Hooper (2 February 2017). "NRL: Canberra Raiders Nick Cotric, Wests Tigers contracts, Robbie Farah — The Mail". Fox Sports. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. ^ "C". NYC Database. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Canberra Raiders - 2016". NYC Database. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Nick Cotric re-signs with the Raiders". Zero Tackle. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  8. ^ "ASSRL Schoolboys rugby league news, Australian Secondary School Rugby League, Australian Schoolboys". Ourfootyteam.com. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. ^ "2016 Holden Cup Team of the Year announced". NRL.com. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  10. ^ "NRL round one: Canberra Raiders young gun Nick Cotric goes from family kitchen to NRL". Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  11. ^ "2017 Downer NRL Auckland Nines squads". National Rugby League. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  12. ^ Helmers, Caden (28 February 2017). "Nick Cotric to make NRL debut in Canberra Raiders' fresh left-edge pairing against North Queensland Cowboys". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  13. ^ "NRL 2017: Cowboys pinch golden point win despite Raiders incredible defence". Fox Sports. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories". Dsfnewscorpaustralia.com. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Junior Paulo takes out Canberra Raiders' Mal Meninga Medal". Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  16. ^ Campton, Nick (3 November 2017). "Green Machine lockup young gun". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  17. ^ Helmers, Caden (19 December 2017). "NRL: Canberra Raiders star Nick Cotric named in Brad Fittler's Emerging Blues squad". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  18. ^ Helmers, Caden (28 May 2018). "Taste of Origin will only make NSW Blues prospect Nick Cotric better". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  19. ^ Polkinghorne, David (10 July 2018). "Nick Cotric named at fullback for Raiders clash against Cowboys". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  20. ^ "After pitch invasion, PM's XIII prevail". National Rugby League. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  21. ^ "Injury robs Cotric of Origin spot but Raiders flyer set for quick recovery". Foxsports.com.au. 13 June 2019.
  22. ^ "Cotric sent off for dangerous throw on Lafai as Raiders down Dragons". Nrl.com. 14 July 2019.
  23. ^ "JWH not guilty; Cotric to miss three games". Nrl.com. 16 July 2019.
  24. ^ "NRL grand final player ratings: Roosters and Raiders hits and misses". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  25. ^ "Sydney Roosters beat Canberra Raiders to win NRL Grand Final". BBC Sport.
  26. ^ "How Ricky Stuart reacted to grand final 'six-again' refereeing shocker". Wwos.nine.com.au.
  27. ^ "South Sydney beats Manly in 56-16 NRL thrashing, Roosters and Canberra record victories". ABC News. 22 August 2020.
  28. ^ "Nick Cotric signs three year deal with the Bulldogs". Bulldogs.com.au. 22 July 2020.
  29. ^ "Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart storms out of press conference after one question". Wwos.nine.com.au.
  30. ^ "Brisbane Broncos' NRL losing streak continues as Parramatta Eels score comeback 24-16 win; Newcastle Knights beat Bulldogs". ABC News. 12 March 2021.
  31. ^ "Big Bunnies blow as try-scoring machine faces a month on sidelines: Casualty Ward". Foxsports.com.au. 19 July 2021.
  32. ^ "Nick Cotric to return to the Raiders". 14 December 2021.
  33. ^ "Raiders overpower Titans to make it three in a row". www.nrl.com.
  34. ^ "Ricky turned losing a club legend into a winning season. Now for his biggest challenge - Brutal Review". www.foxsports.com.au.
  35. ^ "Nick Cotric is a Dragon". Catalans Dragons. 1 June 2024.
  36. ^ https://www.nrl.com/players/nrl-premiership/raiders/nick-cotric/ [bare URL]
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