Brett Kimmorley

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Brett Kimmorley
Personal information
Full name Brett Kimmorley
Nickname Noddy
Born 15 September 1976 (1976-09-15) (age 31)
Belmont, New South Wales, Australia
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 84 kg (13 st 3 lb)
Position Half-Back
Club information
Years Team App T G FG P
1995–1996 Newcastle Knights 6 1 0 0 4
1997 Hunter Mariners 10 2 4 0 16
1998–2000 Melbourne Storm 79 27 26 3 163
2001 Northern Eagles 26 11 0 0 44
since 2002 Cronulla Sharks 124 31 164 4 456
2009 Bulldogs 0 0 0 0 0
Total 245 72 194 7 683
Representative information
Years Team App T G FG P
1997 Australia (SL) 2 0 0 0 0
1999–2005 Australia 15 4 1 1 19
2000–2007 New South Wales 8 0 0 0 0
2001–2007 Country 4 1 3 0 10

As at 17 May 2008
Source: NRL Stats

Brett 'Noddy' Kimmorley (born 15 September 1976 in Belmont, NSW) is an Australian professional rugby league player. He currently plays for the Cronulla Sharks in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition and has also represented his country and state on several occasions. He currently plays at halfback.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Brett Kimmorley played early football for the Lakes United Seagulls.

[edit] Professional career

Kimmorley made his first grade debut for the Newcastle Knights against Manly on July 21, 1995 at Energy Australia Stadium (then known as Marathon Stadium). Although limited opportunities at his favoured half-back position with the Knights (because of Andrew Johns) caused him to move on.

After limited opportunities during two years with the Newcastle Knights, Kimmorley opted to sign for newly formed Super League club the Hunter Mariners who were also based out of Newcastle for the 1997 season. Throughout 1997 the Mariners only managed to make a disappointing seven wins for the entire season and with the shutting down of Super League in 1998 the Mariners were subsequently disbanded.

In 1998, with the newly formed National Rugby League starting up and the Mariners being disbanded, Kimmorley was yet again on the move. He subsequently decided to move to newly formed entity the Melbourne Storm on a three-year deal. His most memorable season for the Storm came in 1999 when the Storm won their maiden Premiership against the St George Illawarra Dragons, where he won the Clive Churchill medal for best on-ground, leading a spirited Storm comeback against the Dragons outfit.

After enjoying a premiership victory with the Melbourne Storm under coach Chris Anderson in 1999, Brett Kimmorley left Victoria for the Northern Eagles in season 2001. He had an unhappy season, however, and when the merged entity split at the end of the season, he decided to follow his former Melbourne Storm coach Chris Anderson to the Cronulla Sharks for 2002.

In his first season with his new club he somewhat flourished and led the Sharks to the preliminary final and although they lost (to eventual runners-up New Zealand Warriors).

With the new season in 2003 looking promising, Kimmorley was awarded the captaincy of the team over David Peachey and was rewarded with a new five-year deal. At the end of 2003, in the Ashes tour against Great Britain, Kimmorley was pivotal to Australia's whitewashing with last-minute field goals to secure the first two games in the three game series.

2004 was a disappointing season for Kimmorley, who failed to take his club to the finals for a second consecutive season. He was also plagued with several injuries which caused him to miss the annual State of Origin fixtures, although he still gained a position on the end of season Tri-Nations tour to Britain and had several impressive performances which were key to the team's success.

The start of 2005 looked extremely promising for the club, with Cronulla and Kimmorley winning the first 6 games in a row to be on top of the NRL Ladder. However after Kimmorley's selection for New South Wales Rugby League team in the first State of Origin match, in which he threw the fateful intercept ball to hand Queensland a victory, his confidence was seemingly shattered and his club form suffered badly. Only Cronulla's excellent first half of the season and favourable results prevented them from falling out of finals contention.

2006 was an unhappy one for Kimmorley, failing to regain his spot at halfback for both representative teams (New South Wales and Australia) the Sharks struggled to maintain their strong start to the season, plummeting from 2nd place on the ladder to lose 10 games in a row and finish 12th on the ladder.

In 2007 Kimmorley's chance for success has improved mainly from the signing of new coach Ricky Stuart a former representative halfback himself. Kimmorley has started the season well, looking to bring the Sharks their first premiership.

Kimmorley has been selected as halfback for the 2007 New South Wales State of Origin team for games 2 and 3, after Jarrod Mullen was dropped due to injury and a poor kicking game and poor defence in the first game of the series.

Kimmorley has agreed a move to the Bulldogs on a two year deal for the 2009 season.[1][2]

[edit] Representative career

Kimmorley has represented Country NSW four times and New South Wales eight times as well as playing 15 times for his country including the 2000 World Cup. He has also played two Super League Tests.

[edit] Playing statistics

  • Played 180 career first grade games with five clubs
  • Has scored over 600 points including 69 career tries

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kimmorley goes to the Dogs. Fox Sports (2008-05-16). Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  2. ^ No half measures as Dogs get Noddy. LeagueHQ (2008-05-15). Retrieved on 2008-05-15.

[edit] External links