Bronson Harrison (born 10 October 1985) is a New Zealand former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a forward in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

and the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and represented the

New Zealand Kiwis The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

at international level, being a part of the 2008 World Cup winning squad.

Biography

Background

Harrison was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand, He played his junior football for Five Dock and the Leichhardt Wanderers before being signed by the

Professional playing career

Wests Tigers

Harrison made his

debut for the Wests Tigers in Round 4 of the

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

. As NRL Premiers, Wests faced

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

champions

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

in the

2006 World Club Challenge The 2006 World Club Challenge was a Rugby league match held on Friday, 3 February 2006, at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wests Tigers. Qualification Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls qualified for ...

. Harrison played from the interchange bench in the Tigers' 30-10 loss. On 25 September 2008, although contracted to the

for a further season, Harrison was released and signed a 3-year deal with the

Canberra Raiders

He joined the Raiders in 2009. After 2 years with the Raiders, Harrison was given the chance to co-captain 5 games in the 2011 season. On 14 November 2012, Harrison signed a 2-year contract with the

starting in 2013, after being released from the final year of his Raiders contract. Bronson Harrison

St George Illawarra Dragons

The

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixtee ...

was Harrison's first with

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

. In 2014, Harrison became an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government and is an Apprentice Mentor in the NRL's Trade UP With The NRL Program.

New Zealand

Harrison made his international debut for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in a test against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in 2005. After missing out on the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird o ...

24-man squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, Harrison played against the Kiwis for the New Zealand Māori in a warm up match. Following an injury to

Brent Webb Brent Douglas Webb (born 9 November 1979) is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a . He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL, before moving the Leeds Rhinos and the Catalans Dragons i ...

, Harrison was called in as a replacement in the New Zealand World Cup squad. He was a starting player in New Zealand's squad for the World Cup final victory over Australia. Harrison was selected for the ANZAC Test and Four Nations in 2009, again being selected for both in 2010. For the 2010 Anzac Test, Harrison was selected to play for

at second-row forward in their loss against Australia. He was selected for the ANZAC Test in 2011 but after a disappointing year for the Raiders, missed out on the Four Nations squad that year.

References

External links

2012 Canberra Raiders profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Bronson 1985 births New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Canberra Raiders players Wests Tigers players Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Auckland Living people