Euan Aitken

Euan Aitken (born 16 June 1995) is a Scotland international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.

Euan "Ewey" Aitken
Personal information
Full nameEuan Aitken
Born (1995-06-16) 16 June 1995
Pambula, New South Wales, Australia
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
Playing information
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015– St. George Illawarra 109 35 0 0 140
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015 Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 4
2016 Country NSW 1 1 0 0 4
2016 Scotland 3 1 0 0 4
As of 22 September 2019
Source: [1][2]

He has played for the Prime Minister's XIII and Country New South Wales, and has played his entire NRL career to date with the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Background

Aitken was born in Pambula, New South Wales, Australia. He is of Scottish descent through his paternal grandfather,[3] Andrew, Latvian descent through his paternal grandmother, Regina, and Polish descent through his paternal grandmother's mother.[4][5][6]

He played his junior rugby league for the Merimbula-Pambula Bulldogs and Shellharbour Sharks. He was then signed by the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Playing career

Early career

In 2013 and 2014, Aitken played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons' NYC team.[7][8] In September and October 2013, he played for the Australian Schoolboys.[9] On 28 April 2014, he was named to play for the New South Wales under-20s team to play Queensland,[10] but had to pull out due to injury.[11] On 18 October 2014, he played for the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis.[12] At the end of 2014, he was named the Dragons' NYC Player of the Year.[11] In 2015, he moved on to the Dragons' New South Wales Cup team, Illawarra Cutters.[13]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Aitken played for the Dragons in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[14] In Round 3 of the 2015 NRL season, he made his NRL début for the Dragons against the Canberra Raiders, playing at centre in the Dragons' 22–20 win at Canberra Stadium.[15][16] On 23 March, he re-signed with the Dragons on a two-year contract.[17][18] In Round 6 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, he scored his first NRL career try in the Dragons' 31–6 win at ANZ Stadium.[19] He finished off his début year in the NRL having played in 23 matches and scoring six tries for the Dragons.[20] On 26 September, he played for the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea, playing off the interchange bench and scoring a try in his team's 40-12 win at Port Moresby.[21][22]

2016

In February, Aitken played for the Dragons in the 2016 NRL Auckland Nines.[23] On 8 May, he played for New South Wales Country against New South Wales City, where he played at centre and scored a try.[24] In Round 10 against the Canberra Raiders, he scored a try off a wayward pass from Canberra Raiders fullback Jack Wighton, just on the halfway siren in golden-point extra-time to win the match for the Dragons 16–12.[25]

2017

Aitken was forced to miss Scotland's 2017 World Cup campaign due to injury.[26]

2018

Aitken made 23 appearances and scored 10 tries for St George as the club finished 7th on the table at the end of the regular season. St George had led the competition after 16 rounds before losing 6 of their last 9 games which was reminiscent to their 2017 season. Aitken missed out on playing in the club's finals campaign which saw them upset the Brisbane Broncos in week one of the finals before being eliminated the following week by South Sydney 13-12.[27]

2019

In Round 21 of the 2019 NRL season, Aitken made his 100th first grade appearance and scored a try as St George defeated the Gold Coast 40-28 at Kogarah Oval.[28]

References
  1. "Euan Aitken - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  2. "Euan Aitken". Love Rugby League. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019.
  3. Brunsdon, Simon (16 March 2016). "St George Illawarra Dragons centre Euan Aitken aiming to represent Scotland at 2016 Four Nations". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  4. Aitken, Euan (20 April 2018). "Goodbye Oma, I Love You". Players' Voice. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  5. Meinhold, Regina (9 September 2004). "Regina Meinhold" (Audio recording). Interviewed by Bill Haskett; Diana Tapscott. Museum of Australian Democracy. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018. He was from Scotland. My first married name was Aitken. His name was Andrew Aitken.
  6. "Regina Meinhold: Obituary". Canberra Times. 21 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  7. "Euan Aitken". NYC Database. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  8. Walter, Brad (21 November 2014). "St George Illawarra Dragons' Benji Marshall backs Russell Packer's comeback to the NRL". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  9. "Aitken named in Australian side". Merimbula News Weekly. 25 July 2013. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  10. "NSW U20s ORIGIN SQUAD ANNOUNCED". Rugby League Week. 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  11. St George Illawarra Dragons Year In Review 2014 (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  12. "Junior Kangaroos team named". NRL.com. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  13. "NSW Cup Team List: Round 1". St George Illawarra Dragons. 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  14. "DRAGONS NAME 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  15. "Late Mail: Round 3 v Canberra Raiders". St. George Illawarra Dragons. 21 March 2015. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  16. Tuxworth, Jon (21 March 2015). "Under siege Dragons stun Raiders after epic comeback in Canberra". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  17. "Dragons re-sign Euan Aitken". Zero Tackle. 23 March 2015. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  18. "Dragons Re-Sign Aitken". St George Illawarra Dragons. 23 March 2015. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  19. Chammas, Michael (12 April 2015). "Benji Marshall magic leads ruthless St George Illawarra Dragons to convincing victory against the Canterbury Bulldogs". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  20. "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  21. "Merrin to lead Prime Minister's XIII". NRL.com. 15 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  22. Decent, Tom (27 September 2015). "Australian Prime Minister's XIII beat Papua New Guinea 40–12 in Port Moresby". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  23. "Dragons name 2016 Nines squad". Rugby League Week. 29 January 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  24. Webeck, Tony (8 May 2016). "Young City side stun Country". NRL.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  25. Bossi, Dominic (12 May 2016). "St George Illawarra Dragons seal dramatic win over Canberra Raiders in the darkness". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  26. Kennedy, Chris (18 December 2017). "Aitken goes to extreme measures to tackle injury curse". NRL.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018. However, he did reveal his disappointment and not being able to represent Scotland in what turned out to be something of an ill-fated World Cup campaign for an injury-ravaged squad missing close to a full Test line-up in NRL and Super League talent.
  27. Newton, Alicia (26 October 2018). "St George Illawarra Dragons 2018 season review". NRL.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019.
  28. McKirdy, Lachlan (10 August 2019). "Dragons vs Titans: Gold Coast Titans defence slammed as 'too easy for first grade'". Sporting News. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019.
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