Nikola Čotrić (; born 18 November 1998) is an Australian 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 plays as a winger for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

in the

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 ...

, and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

at international level He previously played for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

in the NRL and has played for at representative level for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

as well as one game for the

Prime Minister's XIII Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose teams were knocked ...

in 2018.

Background

Cotric was born in

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

, and is of

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

descent. He played his junior rugby league for the Valley Dragons.

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 Canberra outfit on a two-year contract until the end of 2018, In 2016, Cotric played for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

. 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 fill the void made by the departure of

Edrick Lee Edrick Lee (born 18 September 1992) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played in the National Rugby League (NRL) as a er for the Dolphins (NRL), Dolphins. Lee previously played for the Newcastle Knights, the Cronull ...

. In February 2017, Cotric was named in the Raiders

2017 NRL Auckland Nines The 2017 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the fourth NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 4–5 February 2017 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Just like previous tournaments, it ...

squad. In Round 1 of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, ...

, Cotric made his

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 ...

debut for the

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 ...

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 ...

, playing on the wing in the 20-16 Golden Point loss at

1300SMILES Stadium The Willows Sports Complex (last known as 1300SMILES Stadium due to naming rights) was a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was used predominantly as a rugby league ground as the home ground of the North Que ...

. In Round 3 against 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 ...

, Cotric scored his first NRL career try in the 46-6 win at

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium, commercially known as GIO Stadium Canberra, is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sp ...

. On 13 September 2017, Cotric was awarded with Canberra's Rookie of the year at the

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

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 Canberra clubs 24 matches and scoring 16 tries in the

. On 3 November 2017, Cotric extended his contract with the capital club to the end of the 2020 season. On 19 December 2017, Cotric was selected in

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player. Fittler captained both New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales ...

’s emerging

squad.

2018

On 28 May 2018, Cotric was named as 18th man for

for Game 1 of the

2018 State of Origin series The 2018 State of Origin series was the 37th State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, ...

. Cotric would play some matches at fullback towards the end of the season, filling in for the suspended

Jack Wighton Jack Wighton (born 4 February 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and for the Indigenous All-Stars (rugby league), Indigenous All Stars. ...

. Cotric finished the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

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 Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose teams were knocked ...

against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, playing on the wing and scoring a try in the 34-18 win at

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. At the end of the season, statistics showed that Cotric was on top of tackle break count with 149, pipping the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

Grand Final winning fullback

James Tedesco James Tedesco (born 8 January 1993), nicknamed "Teddy", is a professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League, NRL. A former Australia national rugby league team, Australia a ...

by two.

2019

After a good start to the season, Cotric was selected to represent New South Wales in the

2019 State of Origin series The 2019 State of Origin series was the 38th State of Origin series, annual best-of-three series between the Queensland rugby league team, Queensland and New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this 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 Timoteo Lafai (born 27 May 1991) is a retired Samoan rugby league footballer, who last played as a for the Salford Red Devils in the Super League, and Samoa at international level.. He previously played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons a ...

, and suspended for three matches. Cotric played a total of 22 games for Canberra in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

as the club reached their first grand final in 25 years. He played on the wing in the

2019 NRL Grand Final The 2019 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2019 National Rugby League season and was played at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The match was contested between defending premiers the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra ...

as they were defeated by the

. On 7 October, Cotric was named in the Australian side for the

Oceania Cup The Oceania Cup is an international men's field hockey competition organised by Oceania Hockey Federation (OHF). It is held every two years to determine which teams will receive an automatic berth to the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup and Summer Olym ...

fixtures. He made his Test debut in Australia’s win over

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 ...

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawa ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

, and also played in Australia’s following match, an unexpected loss to

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

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 ...

2020

In round 15 of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-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. On 22 July 2020, the

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. 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.

2021

Cotric made his debut for Canterbury-Bankstown in round 1 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

which ended in a 32-16 defeat. On 30 June, it was announced that Cotric would miss the remainder of the

with a toe injury. On 15 December, it was announced he would return to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

on a three-year deal starting in 2022.

2022

In round 20 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest ...

, 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.

2023

Cotric played a total of 13 matches for Canberra in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

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

2024

In June 2024, it was reported that he had signed for

in the

on a three-year deal. Cotric was limited to only eight appearances with Canberra in the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

where he scored four tries.

2025

In round 1 of the 2025 Super League season, Cotric made his club debut for Catalans in their upset loss against Hull F.C..

Statistics

*denotes season still competing https://www.nrl.com/players/nrl-premiership/raiders/nick-cotric/

References

External links

Canberra Raiders profile
(2022)

(2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotric, Nick 1998 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian people of Serbian descent Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Catalans Dragons players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Sportspeople from Cooma Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league wingers Serbia national rugby league team players 21st-century Australian sportsmen