Daniel Mortimer (born 13 June 1989) is an Australian 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 11 ...
footballer who last played as a or for the
Leigh Centurions in the
Betfred Championship
The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...
. He previously played for the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League.
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...
,
Gold Coast Titans
The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...
,
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...
and the
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...
. Mortimer was a
Prime Minister's XIII
Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose tea ...
representative and won the
2013 NRL Grand Final
The 2013 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2013 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 6 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Sydney Roosters and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The Roosters won ...
with the
Roosters
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
.
Background
![DANIEL_MORTIMER](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Daniel_Mortimer.jpg)
Born in Sydney, Mortimer attended
James Sheahan Catholic High School
, motto_translation =
, location = Anson Street, Orange, New South Wales
, country = Australia
, grades = 7– 12
, coordinates =
, pushpin_map = Australia New South Wales
, pushpin_image =
, pus ...
while playing his junior football for Orange CYMS before being signed by the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League.
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...
. Mortimer played for the Eels
NYC
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
team in 2008 and 2009. In 2007, Mortimer played for the New South Wales Combined Catholic Schools team and
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
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players ...
.
Mortimer is of English descent, the son of former
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilit ...
player
Peter Mortimer and the nephew of former Bulldogs players
Steve Mortimer
Stephen Charles Mortimer (born 15 July 1956), also nicknamed "Turvey", is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a . Mortimer played a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs club record 272 first-grade games between 1976–88, winni ...
and
Chris Mortimer
Chris Mortimer (born 19 August 1959 in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales)
is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for the Canterbury-Bankstown, Penrith, New South Wales and for the Aus ...
and
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...
player
Glen Mortimer
Glen Mortimer is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for Cronulla-Sutherland. He is also the brother to Chris Mortimer, Peter Mortimer and Steve Mortimer. The brothers were all raised in the Riverina city of ...
.
Playing career
2009
In Round 12, Mortimer made his
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 ...
debut for the Eels against the
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...
at five-eighth in the Eels 13–10 loss at Parramatta Stadium. In Round 16 against the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite c ...
, Mortimer scored his first NRL career try in the Eels 21–14 win at
Parramatta Stadium. Mortimer went on to score 10 tries from 18 games in his rookie season, helping the Eels to make it to the
2009 NRL Grand Final
The 2009 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership season. Played on 4 October 2009 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium was contested between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm, the latte ...
in a late season surge, playing at five-eighth against the
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
in the Eels 23–16 loss.
In 2018, Mortimer recalled his memories of the 2009 grand final saying "It was a whirlwind, it was surreal. It feels like a movie I watched. I don't think we've seen a team do that since, to be so far out of the eight then to go on to the grand final, it was an absolute buzz, something I'm so thankful I was a part of it".
2010
In 2010, after a lacklustre start to the season, Mortimer reflected on 2009 saying, "We hit form that not many teams have done in the history of footy, so to be judged on that's pretty harsh". Mortimer finished the
2010 NRL season
The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...
with him playing in 21 matches and scoring 2 tries for the Parramatta Eels. During the 2010 season, Mortimer was reportedly offered $500,000 a season to join rivals Canterbury where is father
Peter Mortimer played but turned down the offer to remain at Parramatta until the end of the 2012 season.
2011
Mortimer played in 9 matches for the Parramatta Eels in the
2011 NRL season
The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The N ...
after spending most of the season in the
New South Wales 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 reserv ...
for the
Wentworthville Magpies
The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are a rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions an ...
after the Eels Round 10 match 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 ...
where they lost 40–26 at
1300SMILES Stadium
The Willows Sports Complex, currently known as 1300SMILES Stadium through sponsorship, is a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It has been a predominantly rugby league ground as the home ground of the Nor ...
. In October 2011, Mortimer signed a 2-year contract with the
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...
starting in 2012.
2012
![danielmortimer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Danielmortimer.JPG)
In Round 1 of the
2012 NRL season
The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...
, Mortimer made his club debut for the Sydney Roosters against the
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...
at five-eighth in the Roosters last minute 24–20 win at
ANZ Stadium
ANZ may refer to:
People
* Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician
Banks
* ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia
** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand
* ...
. In Round 3 against 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 Rugby ...
, Mortimer scored his first club try for the Roosters in the 14–8 win at
SFS. Mortimer played in 8 matches, scored 2 tries and kicked 5 goals for the Sydney Roosters in the 2012 NRL season. On 30 September 2012, Mortimer captained the
Newtown Jets
The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground ...
for the
2012 New South Wales Cup Grand Final against the
Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers
The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...
, playing at halfback in the Jets 22–18 win.
2013
On 7 May 2013, Mortimer re-signed with the Roosters on a 2-year contract. On 6 October 2013, Mortimer played in the Sydney Roosters
2013 NRL Grand Final
The 2013 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2013 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 6 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Sydney Roosters and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The Roosters won ...
team against the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...
off the interchange bench in the Roosters Grand Final 26–18 win. Mortimer finished 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 sixte ...
with him playing in all of the Roosters 27 matches, scoring 5 tries and kicking 2 goals.
2014
On 22 February 2014, Mortimer played in the Sydney Roosters
2014 World Club Challenge
The 2014 World Club Challenge was the 15th consecutive annual (and 22nd overall) World Club Challenge and was contested by Super League XVIII champions, Wigan Warriors and 2013 NRL Premiers, the Sydney Roosters. The 2014 World Club Challenge mar ...
36–14 win over the
Wigan Warriors
The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League.
Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...
at
SFS. On 17 June 2014, Mortimer joined the
Gold Coast Titans
The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...
mid-season on a 2-and-a-half-year contract. Mortimer played in 7 matches and scored 1 try for the Sydney Roosters before moving to the Gold Coast.
In Round 15 of the
2014 NRL season
The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Lea ...
against 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 ...
, Mortimer made his club debut for the Gold Coast Titans, kicking a goal in the Titans 19–18 loss at
Cbus Super Stadium
Robina Stadium, also known by its sponsored name Cbus Super Stadium, is a rectangular football stadium in the Gold Coast suburb of Robina, Queensland. The main usage is as the home ground to the National Rugby League's Gold Coast Titans; t ...
. In Round 24 against the Dragons, Mortimer played his 100th NRL career match in the Titans 34–6 loss at
Jubilee Oval
Jubilee Stadium, also known as Kogarah Oval or by its Naming rights, sponsored name Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, is a multipurpose stadium in Carlton, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-Leagu ...
. Mortimer finished off his mid-season transfer year with the Titans with him playing in 11 matches and kicking a goal.
2015
On 31 January and 1 February, Mortimer played for the Titans in the
2015 NRL Auckland Nines
The 2015 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the second NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 16 September 201 ...
. He finished off the
2015 season having played in 17 matches and kicking 2 goals for the Titans. On 26 September, he played for the
Prime Minister's XIII
Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose tea ...
against
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, playing off the interchange bench in his team's 40–12 win in
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 ...
.
2016
On 29 January 2016, Mortimer was named in the Titans 2016 Auckland Nines squad. Mortimer was also named captain of the Titans for the tournament. In Round 3 against 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 ...
, Mortimer scored his first club try for the Titans in their 30–18 win at
Cbus Super Stadium
Robina Stadium, also known by its sponsored name Cbus Super Stadium, is a rectangular football stadium in the Gold Coast suburb of Robina, Queensland. The main usage is as the home ground to the National Rugby League's Gold Coast Titans; t ...
. After sustaining a
hamstring
In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury.
In quadrupe ...
injury and the signing of
Nathan Peats from the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League.
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...
, Mortimer struggled to break into the Titans first 17 squad. Mortimer finished the
2016 NRL season
The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th 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, w ...
with him playing in 7 matches and scoring 1 try for the Titans. On 5 November 2016, Mortimer signed with the
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...
as being one of the potential replacements for the recently retired
Michael Ennis
Michael Ennis (born 16 March 1984) is an Australian sports commentator for Fox League and former professional rugby league footballer of Irish descent. A New South Wales State of Origin representative , he played for the Canterbury-Bankstown ...
at Hooker.
2017
He only played twice for the Sharks when in late June, he moved to England to play for then
Super League side
Leigh Centurions playing his first game on 7 July against
Warrington Wolves
The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004.
Founded as Warrington ...
.
2018
On 11 November, Mortimer announced his retirement from rugby league at just the age of 29. Mortimer wrote on Instagram "I've been so damn lucky to live my dream. It has been an amazing ride. Cannot wait until the next chapter ... whatever that may be".
Mortimer played 2019 season with Gold Coast club Currumbin Eagles in the A grade division.
Personal life
As of 2019, Mortimer has become a teacher at Pimpama State Secondary College (PSSC), Queensland, Australia.
See also
*
Mortimer family
The Mortimer brothers are a rugby league football family.
First generation
Hailing from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia: Chris Mortimer, Peter Mortimer and Steve Mortimer. The brothers are best known for their relationship with the C ...
References
External links
*
Leigh Centurions profileLeigh profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Daniel
1989 births
Living people
Australian rugby league players
Australian schoolteachers
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players
Gold Coast Titans players
Leigh Leopards players
Daniel
Newtown Jets NSW Cup players
Parramatta Eels players
People from Orange, New South Wales
Prime Minister's XIII players
Rugby league five-eighths
Rugby league halfbacks
Rugby league hookers
Rugby league players from Sydney
Sydney Roosters players
Wentworthville Magpies players