Nathan Merritt

Nathan Merritt

Personal information
Full name	Nathan Deane Merritt
Nickname	Nate Dogg, Max, Merro
Born	26 May 1983 (1983-05-26) (age 28) Sydney, Australia
Height	181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Playing information
Position	Wing, Fullback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2002–2003	South Sydney	23	12	1	0	50
2004–2005	Cronulla	19	8	5	0	42
2006–	South Sydney	139	103	33	1	529
	Total	181	123	39	1	621
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2008	Dreamtime Team
2010–2011	Indigenous All Stars	2	1	0	0	4
As of 15 August 2011
Source: Yesterday's Hero,Herald Sun RLP

Nathan Merritt (born 26 May 1983 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League. He has also previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. His position of choice is either on the wing or at fullback. Merritt is an Indigenous Australian who grew up on The Block, Redfern. He jointly holds the Souths' record for the most tries in an NRL match with 5 in a 56-6 demolition of the Parramatta Eels on 8 August 2011.

Biography

Early career

Merritt played junior football for Alexandria Rovers.

2002-2003

His first-grade debut was for the South Sydney Rabbitohs against the New Zealand Warriors at Ericsson Stadium in round 9 of the 2002 NRL season and scored a try.

2004-2005

At the end of the 2003 season Merritt agreed to terms with the Cronulla Sharks where he was to play for the next two years. In the 2005 season, Merritt endured a tough year. He played only three first grade games for the Cronulla Sharks, but was a stand-out player in the lower grade NSWRL Premier League matches for the Newtown Jets, scoring almost 300 points for the year. His outstanding showing that year was rewarded when his old club the South Sydney Rabbitohs offered him a two-year contract to play in the National Rugby League.

2006-present

In 2006, Merritt re-joined the Rabbitohs after a brief stint at the Cronulla Sharks. He was a stand-out performer in an underachieving side all year, and was one of only three players to play all 24 games for the Rabbitohs that year. In September the same year, Nathan's hard work and great performances through the year culminated in the announcement that Nathan had earned his first representative honour, to play for the Prime Minister's XIII. Merritt was the only South Sydney player to be included in the squad. The Australian team beat the Papua New Guinean team 28-8, with Merritt one of the try-scorers. He was also included in the train-on squad for the Kangaroos squad for the Tri-Nations tournament against England and New Zealand, but missed out on a starting position.

He was the highest try scorer for the 2006 season with 22 tries, beating Manly Sea Eagles' star Brett Stewart who scored 20. It was the first time in rugby league history that the leading tryscorer in a season came from the club that ran last that year. His great try-scoring form lead to him being selected for the Prime Minister's XIII to play against Papua New Guinea.

Following the announcement of the City Origin squad in 2007, Merritt hinted that his non-selection was possibly due to "a Souths thing or a racial thing". This comment was lambasted and in rebuttal to this comment critics pointed to the selection of Fijian Jarryd Hayne and Lebanese player Hasem El Masri as evidence that selections had not been racially motivated.^[1]

On August 8, 2011 Merritt equaled the South Sydney club record of 5 tries in a match when he scored five against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium in a 56-6 win joining greats such as Harold Horder, Johnny Graves and Ian Moir to have scored five tries in a match for the Rabbits. He followed this up just eight days later with a three try performance against Canberra at Canberra Stadium, in doing so he became the first player since Brett Mullins in 1994 to score eight tries within eight days in the NRL. Merritt's haul also saw him become clear leading try scorer for the 2011 NRL season with 21 from 21 games, six tries more than Canterbury Bulldogs player Ben Barba with four rounds left to play before the Finals. After the regular season Merritt finished on 23 tries for the year, a personal best with his previous best being 22 in 2006. After his brilliant form Merritt was selected in the Australian squad to play against Papua New Guinea for the Prime Minister's XIII.

Music

In 2007, Merritt, with the Sydney Roosters' Amos Roberts, appeared in the music video for Anthony Mundine's Platinum Ryder single. It is rumoured that Merritt is recording an album with Mundine called It's an Abo World. US rap artist Snoop Dogg - said to be a Rabbitohs fan - has named Merrit as his favourite NRL player.

References

1. ^ Merritt questions rep snub foxsports.com.au Retrieved on 1 May 2007.

External links

• Nathan Merritt NRL Profile
• Rabbitohs Profile

Persondata
Name	Merritt, Nathan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	26 May 1983
Place of birth	Sydney
Date of death
Place of death