Russell Aitken (born 19 May 1985) is an Australian 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. Aitken is currently the head coach of St. George Illawarra Dragons

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

Side. Aitken formerly coached the Helensburgh Tigers who competed in the Sydney Shield Competition, in the 2020 season. Aitken most recently played professionally with the

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Super XIII and are one of th ...

rugby league club in France.

Early life

Aiken was educated at Cronulla High School in Sydney, where he represented 2002 Australian Schoolboys.

Playing career

After brief stints with Cronulla and North Queensland, Aitken signed for the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

at the beginning of the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

. Aitken made his début for the Melbourne club against St. George Illawarra in round 5 at the start of the 2007 season, coming off the bench as an interchange player. Following Cameron Smith's controversial suspension after Melbourne's semi-final victory against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

, Aitken was selected at hooker to play in the

2008 NRL Grand Final The 2008 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2008 NRL season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm on Sunday, 5 October at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The 2008 Grand Fi ...

after only a handful of first grade appearances. Melbourne went on to lose the grand final by a record-breaking margin of 40-0 after having achieved the rare feat of making three consecutive grand finals. During the subsequent off-season, Aitken was released by the Melbourne side and chose to continue his Rugby League career with French club AS

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

. Aitken joined Co-operative European Championship team, Gateshead Thunder, in the summer of 2009. In late 2009, Gateshead Thunder went into administration, Aitken returned to Australia in early 2010 and played for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

in 2010. After a stint in the Illawarra Carlton League with the Helensburgh Tigers in 2011, Aitken once more returned to play in France with his former club AS Carcassonne for the 2011/12, 12/13 and 13/14 seasons. It was during the 2011/12 season that Aitken was involved in an historic 'Double Championship' winning season for the 'Canaris'. They overcame their much fancied opponents, the Pia Donkeys, in both the Elite 1 Championship Final and Lord Derby Cup Final over successive weekends. In May 2014, Aitken was appointed the Captain/ Coach of the Campbelltown City Kangaroos in the

Group 6 Rugby League The Macarthur Conference Rugby League is a senior Rugby league competition in New South Wales, Australia, administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. Formerly known as Group 6 Rugby League, the competition was, until 2019, run under the a ...

competition for the period of June 2014 – September 2014. Aitken has since coached at Central Queensland Capras in the QLD Cup, lower grades at the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

and most recently at the Helensburgh Tigers in the Illawarra Carlton League.

References

External links

Melbourne Storm profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Russell 1985 births Living people AS Carcassonne players Australian rugby league players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Melbourne Storm players Newcastle Thunder players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney 21st-century Australian sportsmen