Brett Kimmorley

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Nickname(s)
Noddy
Born
Wednesday, 15th September, 1976
Current Age
47 years and 186 days
Place Of Birth
Belmont, New South Wales, Australia

Awards & Accolades

Clive Churchill Medal
1999
Dally M Halfback Of The Year
2000

Known Family Links

Brother
Craig Kimmorley
Father
Des Kimmorley

Biography

Newcastle halfback first came to prominence when he scored two tries in Newcastle’s reserve grade grand final victory in 1995. Kimmorley persevered for another twelve months but found it impossible to oust the Johns brothers so he joined breakaway Super League club the Hunter Mariners in 1997. Selected as a reserve in the first and third Tests against Great Britain at the end of 1997’s Super League season, the demise of the Mariners saw Kimmorley join Chris Anderson at the newly-formed Melbourne Storm in 1998. Kimmorley’s maturity as an organiser and deft kicking game were essential factors in Melbourne making the finals in its debut season. The architect of Melbourne’s second-half fight-back against St George I’warra in the grand final that year Kimmorley was named the Clive Churchill Medal winner after the Storm’s last-minute, 20-18 win. Kimmorley made his Test debut against NZ in the Tri Nations competition in October 1999 when Andrew Johns was unavailable because of injury. In season 2000 he was the preferred halfback in both the ANZac Test and the NSW team (despite Johns’ return from injury on the interchange bench Kimmorley thoroughly deserved the No.7 spot). But in what proved to be a killer blow to Melbourne’s title defence Kimmorley turned his back on the club and signed a two-year contract with the N’Eagles. After being prematurely sacked after NSW’s loss in the opening State of Origin match in 2001 he captained Country against City before being recalled to the NSW team for the deciding match after an injury to Trent Barrett. By his admission Kimmorley struggled during the season (although to be fair, he was playing behind a struggling N’Eagles’ forward pack) and he failed to make the Kangaroo Tour at the end of the year. With the demise of the N’Eagles club Kimmorley put himself back on the open market. In a bold move to resurrect his sagging reputation, he sacked his management (which originally threatened to sue the NRL for restraint of trade over salary cap restrictions) and signed a greatly reduced contract with the Sharks. Under newly-appointed coach, former Melbourne mentor Chris Anderson, Kimmorley returned to the stellar football he had played with the Storm. After a late rush of club form in 2002 - a season in which he scored a club record 28pts in the match against Newcastle and set a new season benchmark of 251pts - he was recalled into the Australian Test team against NZ in October. The following year he struggled with injury but returned to form and was the linchpin of Australia’s Ashes whitewash in England at year’s end. Kimmorley was able to put the distraction of Chris Anderson’s sacking behind him at club level and was chosen for NSW for the first time since 2001. Although a groin strain kept him out of the Blues’ team he returned to England – the scene of his greatest international triumphs – and played another vital hand in Australia’s Tri Nations victory in November 2004. The following year he was sacked from the NSW team after the Blues’ 24-20 loss in the first State of Origin match, which has been his final rep match to date.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 307 82 196   11 731 163 141 3 53.09% List
NRL Finals 16 3 11   - 34 7 9 0 43.75% List
Test Series 5 1 -   1 - 5 0 0 100.00% List
Tri-Nations 6 1 1   - 6 4 2 0 66.67% List
Tour Matches Australia 7 4 0   1 17 7 0 0 100.00% List
World Club Challenge 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Anzac Tests 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
State of Origin 10 - 0   - - 5 5 0 50.00% List
World Cup 5 1 -   - 4 5 0 0 100.00% List
City vs Country 5 1 3   - 10 3 2 0 60.00% List
The Ashes 3 1 -   1 10 3 0 0 100.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia (SL) 1997 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List
Australia 1999-00, 2002-05 20 7 1   1 31 17 3 0 85.00% List
Overall1997-2005 22 7 1   1 31 19 3 0 86.36% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1999-2004 2 - 1   - 2 2 0 0 100.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1999-2000 5 1 -   - 4 5 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW 2000-01, 2005, 2007, 2009-10 10 - -   - - 5 5 0 50.00% List
NSW Country 2001-02, 2004, 2007, 2010 5 1 3   - 10 3 2 0 60.00% List
Overall2000-2010 15 1 3   0 10 8 7 0 53.33% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newcastle ARL 1995 3 1 -   - 4 2 1 0 66.67% List
Newcastle ARL 1996 3 - -   - - 1 2 0 33.33% List
Hunter Super League 1997 10 2 4 / 13 30.77% - 16 5 5 0 50.00% List
Melbourne NRL 1998 27 5 22 / 40 55.00% 2 66 18 8 1 66.67% List
Melbourne NRL 1999 28 9 5 / 9 55.56% 1 47 19 9 0 67.86% List
Melbourne NRL 2000 24 13 -   - 52 13 10 1 54.17% List
Northern Eagles NRL 2001 26 11 -   - 44 11 14 1 42.31% List
Sharks NRL 2002 27 14 97 / 139 69.78% 1 251 16 11 0 59.26% List
Cronulla NRL 2003 17 5 27 / 43 62.79% - 74 6 11 0 35.29% List
Cronulla NRL 2004 15 3 40 / 61 65.57% - 92 7 8 0 46.67% List
Cronulla NRL 2005 23 6 -   - 24 11 12 0 47.83% List
Cronulla NRL 2006 19 3 -   1 13 5 14 0 26.32% List
Cronulla NRL 2007 13 - -   - - 5 8 0 38.46% List
Cronulla NRL 2008 26 2 1 / 1 100.00% 3 13 18 8 0 69.23% List
Bulldogs NRL 2009 23 4 -   3 19 17 6 0 73.91% List
Canterbury NRL 2010 23 4 -   - 16 9 14 0 39.13% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Newcastle 1995-96 6 1 -   - 4 3 3 0 50.00% List
Hunter 1997 10 2 4 / 13 30.77% - 16 5 5 0 50.00% List
Melbourne 1998-00 79 27 27 / 49 55.10% 3 165 50 27 2 63.29% List
Northern Eagles 2001 26 11 -   - 44 11 14 1 42.31% List
Sharks 2002-08 140 33 165 / 244 67.62% 5 467 68 72 0 48.57% List
Bulldogs 2009-10 46 8 -   3 35 26 20 0 56.52% List
Overall1995-2010 307 82 196 / 306 64.05% 11 731 163 141 3 53.09% List

Your Say

  • Luke Jackson
    30/10/2018

    At one point in time - early 00s - he was the best halfback in the game and throughly deserved the position.

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Greg Fiveash, AJ Lucantonio, Alan Katzmann, Terry Liberopoulos, Cymru RL, Bill Bates

Sources: NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2001, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2002, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2003, NRL 2004 Official Rugby League Annual, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1999, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2000, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2004, 2006 Official Rugby League Annual