Nick Cotric doesn’t mind riding the rugby league rollercoaster, as long as he finishes at the top.
And after a year of career highs and despairing lows, the Canberra winger can see the peak in sight in Sunday’s NRL grand final against the Sydney Roosters.
Cotric will be the youngest player in the Raiders’ grand final team on Sunday, but at age 20 he has experienced enough drama in 2019 to last his career,
He made his State of Origin debut in NSW’s series-opening loss in early June, before an ankle injury ruled him out of the Blues’ comeback in the next two games to clinch the series.
“It was hard to take mentally,” Cotric told AAP.
“My ankle was pretty sore and I couldn’t do anything for four or five weeks. It’s a pretty bad week syndesmosis.
“I couldn’t run. That was pretty disappointing. I was a bit sad there and I just went to rehab and made it better.”
Then, in his first game back, Cotric became the first player sent off in almost two years for a dangerous tackle on St George Illawarra’s Tim Lafai and was banned for three games.
“You always have thoughts in your head (while suspended),” Cotric said.
“There is always someone out there who can take your spot and be playing too because we have such a talented squad.
“You’ve just got to train hard do what you can and if you get the chance you’ve just got to go out there and do what you can.”
Cotric did that and more, and has since put the two setbacks well behind him.
He enters ANZ Stadium on Sunday as one of the game’s real livewires, with his speed set to be crucial against a Roosters defence that been impregnable at times.
The decider will be the first time Canberra have even made a grand final in his lifetime, after having grown up a Raiders junior.
Which all promises to make up for the rollercoaster ride that has been 2019.
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” Cotric said.
“To be in a grand final and get the chance to do something I dreamt about as a kid … especially as a local boy with the Canberra Raiders is something special.”