Nik Kosef

Referee Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Thursday, 6th June, 1974
Current Age
49 years and 297 days

Biography

Versatile Cobar junior came to Manly in 1992 and was originally a lock/five-eighth. Kosef impressed with a rugged, all-purpose ability as a ball-player and tough defender. After an injury-ridden 1994 season he was one of the few Manly forwards who could hold his head high after the 17-4 loss to C’bury in the 1995 grand final. Kosef earned his place in Australia’s World Cup squad at the end of the year and played in four Tests including the 16-8 win against Great Britain in the final. The following year he played an important role as five-eighth in Manly’s grand final win against St George and represented Australia in the one-off Test against Papua-New Guinea at the end of the year. Although he did not make his State of Origin debut until 1997 Kosef’s good form saw him chosen as a reserve in Australia’s ANZac Test loss in April 1998. The ensuing seasons saw his career wracked with injury, including four knee injuries that limited his appearances with the merged N’Eagles club to just 10 matches in two years. After sorting out a contract dispute with the embattled club Kosef made his long-awaited return in 2002 but could not come to terms when Manly took over the club the following year and he retired.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Referee 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.

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Your Say

  • Gerry Lamb
    14/09/2012

    I work with Nik now in the coal mining industry and he is an absolute Gentleman

  • michael
    30/08/2019

    Did a training course with him. Very modest and polite guy as mentioned in the previous comment.

  • Dean Taylor
    30/03/2020

    An Absolute legend, Worked with Nik in the mining industry.

    A goodmate to have..

  • Gregory Mackay
    02/04/2021

    2nd April 2021. Had a chance meeting with Nik at a golf day for a passed close mate. Over the course of the conversation, we discussed local colourful identities we both knew and his roots. Turned out my sister-in-law is from the same town. That led to me asking, "what was his connection to rugby league"? His reply, he played. I asked his name and introduced himself, Nik Kosef. We all know the obvious signs of the quality of a bloke by their manner. Yeah, good bloke.

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, AJ Lucantonio, Paul Carter, Greg Fiveash

Sources: ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1999, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2000, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2003, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2001, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2002, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995