He’s played 126 NRL games, helped steer the Eels to a Grand Final in 2009, was a member of the Roosters premiership winning squad of 2013 and tonight Daniel Mortimer will become the 511th Sharks first grade player when he runs onto Southern Cross Group Stadium to take on the Tigers.
Since overcoming a knee injury which kept him sidelined for an extended period earlier in the season, after playing strongly for the Newtown Jets in recent weeks and due to the fact the Sharks are missing their five Origin players, Mortimer finally gets his chance to shine.
Despite still having 19 players to choose from before narrowing his team list down to 17 one hour before the game, Coach Shane Flanagan announced Mortimer would be a part of his side at his Friday press conference yesterday.
Named in jersey 14, Mortimer has spent most of the week honing his dummy half skills and is likely to be used to give young hooker Jayden Brailey a breather at some stage during the game against the Tigers.
If needed, Mortimer is equally adept in the halves and would be a handy replacement should the need arise.
The son of former Canterbury player Peter Mortimer and the nephew of Bulldogs Steve, Chris and ex-Shark Glenn, Daniel played his junior football in Orange before joining the Eels and playing in the NYC in 2008.
While still eligible for the 20’s Mortimer debuted in the NRL in 2009, helping the Eels win through to the Grand Final, playing 18 games in that rookie season.
After 48 NRL games at Parramatta, Mortimer moved to the Roosters in 2012, coming off the bench in the 2013 Premiership decider in a 26-18 win over Manly.
Mortimer played all 27 matches for the Roosters in that 2013 season.
From there he headed north to the Gold Coast in 2014 before arriving at the Sharks at the start of 2017.
