Paul Momirovski
Paul Momirovski (born 19 July 1996) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for the Melbourne Storm, on loan from The Wests Tigers in the NRL. The arrangement between Wests Tigers and Melbourne Storm to trade Momirovski with Harry Grant for the 2020 NRL season was the first loan arrangement in NRL history.[2]
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| Born | 19 July 1996 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 88 kg (13 st 12 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre, Wing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As of 12 October 2019 Source: [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
Momirovski was born in Sydney and is of Macedonian descent. He played his junior football for the Alexandria Rovers before signing with the Sydney Roosters in 2014.
Playing career
2018
Momirovski made his debut for the Sydney Roosters in round 18 of the 2018 NRL season vs the Gold Coast Titans, scoring a try. Momirovski played in the Roosters Preliminary Final win against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, scoring a try. He was 18th man (emergency reserve) for the Roosters in the 2018 NRL Grand Final which they won, but he did not play. Momirovski signed with the Wests Tigers for the 2019 season.[3]
2019
Momirovski made his debut for Wests against Manly-Warringah in Round 1 of the 2019 NRL season which ended in a 20–6 victory at Leichhardt Oval. In Round 21 against Canterbury-Bankstown at ANZ Stadium, Momirovski scored 2 tries and had the chance to send the match into extra-time with a kick at goal as Wests crossed over in the final minute to make the score 18–16. Momirovski subsequently missed his conversion attempt after the full time siren had sounded and Canterbury held on to win the match.[4]
In round 24 against the St George-Illawarra Dragons, Momirovski kicked all seven of his attempts at goal and scored three tries in the 42–14 win at the Sydney Cricket Ground. His personal points tally of 26 was the club's highest since Brett Hodgson's record 30-point tally in the Wests Tigers 2005 premiership winning side.[5]
On 30 September, Momirovski earned his first representative jersey as he was named at centre in Prime Minister's XIII
2020
During the lead up to the 2020 NRL season the Tigers and Melbourne Storm attempted to arrange a temporary player swap between Momirovski and Melbourne Storm player Harry Grant[6]. The primary catalyst of this was Wests Tigers requiring reinforcements at Grant's preferred position of hooker due to the retirement of Robbie Farah and long term injury to Wests Tigers preferred replacement Jacob Liddle. Initially the NRL salary cap administrators refused to process the request because Melbourne would have gone over the salary cap if the deal had been processed at that time.[7]
There were further delays due to injury to Brandon Smith causing Melbourne to hold up proceedings so they could have Grant provide back up to Cameron Smith in the early rounds of the season[8], and briefly by Momirovski wishing to sign a new contract with Wests Tigers prior to leaving [9], but the deal was finally made official during round 2 of the season on 21 March 2020, coinciding with the announcement that Momirovski had signed a contract with Wests Tigers for the 2021, and 2022 seasons. This deal was the first of its kind in the NRL.
References
- Rugby League Project
- https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/nrl-2020-paul-momirovski-harry-grant-wests-tigers-melbourne-storm-swap-deal-still-on/news-story/4f97f17e5beaf088221ebc6b413f001e
- "Titans vs Roosters Summary". ESPN. 15 July 2018.
- "Tigers replacement kicker Paul Momirovski hooks last minute conversion to force golden point". Fox Sports.
- "Momirovski stars as Tigers set up Leichhardt pre-finals blockbuster". NRL.
- https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/01/29/tigers-and-storm-teeing-up-nrls-first-player-loan-swap/
- https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-torpedoes-tigers-storm-loan-deal-20200218-p5420w.html
- https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/03/16/tigers-storm-swap-deal-back-on-cards-as-smith-eyes-early-injury-return/
- https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/trading-places-nrl-close-to-approving-tigers-storm-player-loan-20200321-p54ci7.html