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

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

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

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

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 Rugb ...

and the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and represented the New Zealand Kiwis at international level, being a part of the 2008 World Cup winning squad.

Biography

Background

Harrison was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, 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 against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city 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 Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

champions

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in the 2006 World Club Challenge. 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 St. George Illawarra Dragons 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 sixt ...

was Harrison's first with

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

. 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 () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in a test against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 2005. After missing out on the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team () 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 Kiwi (bird), native bird of that name. The team' ...

24-man squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

, Harrison played against the Kiwis for the New Zealand Māori in a warm up match. Following an injury to Brent Webb, 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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

. 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.

Statistics

References

External links

2012 Canberra Raiders profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Bronson 1985 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Canberra Raiders players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons players Wests Tigers players