Nick Cotric


Nikola "Nick" Cotric is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who primarily plays on the, but has also played as a and. He currently plays in the NRL for the Canberra Raiders, and has played for the New South Wales rugby league team as well as Australia on an international level. In 2018, he played one game for the Prime Minister's XIII.

Background

Cotric was born in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Serbian descent.
He played his junior rugby league for the Valley Dragons, before being signed by the Canberra Raiders.

Playing career

Early years

In 2016, Cotric was a member of the Canberra Raiders' NYC team, playing 21 games primarily at. In August 2016, Cotric re-signed with the Raiders on a 2-year contract until the end of 2018, In 2016, Cotric played for the Australian Schoolboys. On 5 September 2016, Cotric was named at centre in the 2016 NYC Team of the Year.

2017

Before the season started, Cotric was groomed to fill in the right-wing flank to void the departure of Edrick Lee. In February 2017, Cotric was named in the Raiders 2017 NRL Auckland Nines squad. 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. In Round 3 against the Wests Tigers, Cotric scored his first NRL career try in the 46-6 win at Canberra Stadium. On 13 September 2017, Cotric was awarded with the Raiders Rookie of the year at the Mal Meninga Medal Awards night. On 27 September 2017, Cotric received the Rookie of the Year award at the 2017 Dally M Awards night. 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 Raiders 24 matches and scoring 16 tries in the 2017 NRL season. On 3 November 2017, Cotric extended his contract with the Raiders to the end of the 2020 season. On 19 December 2017, Cotric was selected in Brad Fittler’s emerging New South Wales squad.

2018

On 28 May 2018, Cotric was named as 18th man for New South Wales for Game 1 of the 2018 State of Origin series. Cotric would play some matches at fullback towards the end of the season, filling in for the suspended Jack Wighton. Cotric finished the 2018 NRL season with him playing in all of the Raiders 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. 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 2.

2019

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.
In Round 17, Cotric was sent off for a dangerous lifting tackle on St George centre Tim Lafai, and suspended for 3 matches.
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.
On 7 October, Cotric was named in the Australian side for the Oceania Cup fixtures.