Aidan Sezer

Aidan Sezer (born 24 June 1991) is a rugby league footballer who plays as a scrum-half and stand-off for the Huddersfield Giants in the Betfred Super League.

Aidan Sezer
Personal information
Born (1991-06-24) 24 June 1991
Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight14 st 2 lb (90 kg)
Playing information
PositionScrum-half, Stand-off
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2012–15 Gold Coast Titans 71 12 156 5 365
2016–19 Canberra Raiders 84 14 23 5 107
2020– Huddersfield Giants 17 7 38 1 105
Total 172 33 217 11 577
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–17 Indigenous All Stars 2 0 1 0 2
2016 NSW City 1 0 6 0 12
As of 15 December 2020
Source: [1]

He previously played for the Gold Coast Titans and most recently the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League. Sezer has played for the Indigenous All Stars and New South Wales City sides.

On 1 September 2019, he kicked three field goals in a match to secure a top-four finish and victory for the Raiders over Cronulla.

Background

Sezer was born in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia to a Turkish father, Yücel, and Indigenous Australian mother, Tanya, and is Muslim.[2]

Sezer played his junior football for the East Hills Bulldogs before being signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Sezer played in the Bulldogs Toyota Cup team in 2010–2011, scoring over 300 points.[3] On 31 August 2010, Sezer was named at five-eighth in the 2010 NYC Team of the Year.[4] At the end of 2011, Sezer signed with the Gold Coast Titans after a lack of first-grade opportunities at the Bulldogs.[5]

Playing career

2012

In round 7 of the 2012 NRL season, Sezer made his NRL debut for the Gold Coast Titans against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at five-eighth and scored a try in the Titans 26–14 upset win at Brookvale Oval.[6][7] In December 2012, Sezer re-signed with the Titans on a 2-year contract.[8] Sezer finished his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 18 matches, scoring 4 tries, kicking 7 goals and kicking 1 field goal for the Gold Coast Titans in the 2012 NRL season. On 4 December 2012, Sezer re-signed with the Titans for three years until the end of the 2015 NRL season.[8]

2013

On 9 February 2013, Sezer played for the Indigenous All Stars team in the 2013 All Stars match against the NRL All Stars off the interchange bench in the Indigenous Team 32–6 win at Suncorp Stadium.[9][10] Sezer finished the 2013 NRL season with him playing in 22 matches, scoring 1 try, kicking 75 goals and kicking 2 field goals for the Gold Coast Titans.

2014

In round 10 against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, Sezer suffered a pectoral muscle injury in the Titans 22–8 loss which made him miss 3 months of football,[11] until making a return in Round 22 against the Sydney Roosters at SFS which the Titans lost the match 26–18.[12] Sezer finished the Gold Coast Titans 2014 NRL season with him playing in 13 matches, scoring 4 matches, kicking 23 goals and kicking 1 field goal in an injury riddled year.

2015

On 20 January, Sezer was named in the Titans 2015 NRL Auckland Nines squad.[13] On 10 April, he signed a 3-year contract with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2016.[14] He finished his last year with the Titans, having played in 18 matches, scoring 3 tries, kicking 51 goals and 1 field goal.

2016

In round 1 of the 2016 NRL season, Sezer made his club debut for the Canberra Raiders against the Penrith Panthers, playing at halfback and scoring two tries in the club's 30–22 win at Canberra Stadium.[15] On 8 May 2016, Sezer played for City Origin against Country Origin, where he played at five-eighth and kicked 6 goals in the 44–30 win in Tamworth.[16] Sezer finished the 2016 NRL season with him playing in 24 matches, scoring 5 tries and kicking 5 goals in his first year with the Canberra club.

2017

In February 2017, Sezer was selected in Canberra's 2017 Auckland Nines squad.[17] On 10 February 2017, Sezer played for the Indigenous All Stars against the World All Stars in the 2017 All Stars match, playing off the interchange bench in the 34–8 win at Hunter Stadium.[18][19] In round 5 against the Parramatta Eels, Sezer played his 100th NRL career match in the 30–18 win at Canberra Stadium.[20][21] Sezer finished the 2017 NRL season with him playing in all of the Raiders 24 matches, scoring 4 tries and kicking 12 goals. Sezer and his halves partner Blake Austin were subjected to criticism at the end of the season for not lifting their game to close out matches and were taking the back seat for hooker Josh Hodgson who did the key playmaking a little too often than they should have.[22]

2018

On 27 June 2018, Sezer extended his contract with the Canberra club to the end of the 2020 NRL season.[23] Sezer finished the 2018 NRL season with him playing in 18 matches, scoring 2 tries, kicking 8 goals and 1 field goal for the Raiders. In October 2018, Sezer alongside Raiders team-mate Emre Guler trained with the Turkey national rugby league team for the 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship matches.[24]

2019

Sezer started the 2019 NRL season as the club's first choice halfback and kicked a field goal in the opening round as Canberra defeated the Gold Coast 21–0. In round 2, Sezer suffered an oblique injury and was replaced by Sam Williams. Due to the good form of Canberra and Williams, Sezer was kept in reserve grade to play for Canberra's feeder club side the Mount Pritchard Mounties after recovering from his injury.[25]

In round 23, Sezer played his 150th NRL game in Canberra's 14–18 loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at GIO stadium in Canberra. In round 24, Sezer kicked 3 field goals in Canberra's 15–14 win against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Pointsbet Stadium, including the game winner in golden point extra time.[26]

Sezer played for Canberra in the 2019 NRL Grand Final which was their first decider in 25 years. Canberra would go on to lose the final 14–8 against the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium.[27][28][29]

On 28 November, it was announced that Sezer had signed a two-year deal to join Super League side Huddersfield.[30]

References
  1. "Aidan Sezer - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 24 June 1991. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  2. Meyn, Travis (17 January 2013). "Aidan Sezer has shone for the Titans, now he is set to become a Star". News.com.au. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  3. "Titans trio head west in name of Indigenous education". Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. "Toyota Cup Team of the Year revealed". NRL.com. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  5. "Gold Coast Titans slam Todd Carney rumours | NRL". Zero Tackle. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  6. "Sezer makes NRL debut | Queensland Times". Qt.com.au. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  7. "Home | Live Scores & Latest News". Fox Sports. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  8. "Titans Five Eighth Aidan Sezer Signs New Deal Until 2015". Herald Sun. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  9. "2013 All Stars teams announced". NRL.com. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  10. Burke, Dominic (9 February 2013). "REPLAY: Indigenous All Stars 32 d NRL All Stars 6 at Suncorp Stadium". News.com.au. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  11. "Home | Live Scores & Latest News". Fox Sports. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  12. "Home | Live Scores & Latest News". Fox Sports. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  13. "TITANS NAME 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  14. Chris Wilson. "Canberra Raiders sign Aidan Sezer". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  15. "Canberra Raiders Down Penrith Panthers but Lose Star Blake Austin to Injury". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  16. "Young City side stun Country". NRL.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  17. https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/02/04/2017-downer-nrl-auckland-nines-squads/
  18. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/indigenous-all-stars-thump-world-all-stars-348-in-newcastle/news-story/a016f102b1c7ddc5bbdeeedb83a149c5
  19. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/canberra-raiders/canberra-raiders-halfback-aidan-sezer-uses-nrl-all-stars-to-learn-from-north-queensland-cowboys-johnathan-thurston-20170227-gumack.html?deviceType=text
  20. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-league/canberra-raiders/aidan-sezer-wants-to-take-control-of-the-canberra-raiders-ahead-of-his-100th-nrl-game-20170326-gv7337.html
  21. https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/04/01/cotric-stunner-seals-raiders-victory/
  22. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/raiders/5-reasons-to-be-excited-about-the-raiders-in-nrl-season-2018/news-story/769f47cdfbb7118968a008472f188007
  23. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/canberra-raiders-re-sign-aidan-sezer-20180627-p4zo0k.html
  24. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/10/06/turkey-hoping-aidan-sezer-can-provide-finals-boost-at-emerging-nations-world-championship/
  25. "Sezer willing to wait in the wings". nrl.com.
  26. "Canberra Raiders ruin Paul Gallen's Cronulla farewell, Tigers beat Dragons to stay in finals hunt". ABC.
  27. "NRL grand final player ratings: Roosters and Raiders hits and misses". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  28. "Sydney Roosters beat Canberra Raiders to win NRL Grand Final". BBC.
  29. "How Ricky Stuart reacted to grand final 'six-again' refereeing shocker". WWOS.
  30. "Huddersfield Giants sign NRL star on two-year deal". Examiner Live.
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