Paul Momirovski

Paul Momirovski (born 13 July 1996) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a centre and winger for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.

Paul Momirovski

Personal information
Full name	Paul Momirovski
Born	(1996-07-19) 19 July 1996 (age 27) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	94 kg (14 st 11 lb)
Playing information
Position	Centre, Wing
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2018 Sydney Roosters 2 2 0 0 8 2019 Wests Tigers 11 8 21 0 74 2020(loan) → Melbourne Storm 6 4 0 0 16 2021 Penrith Panthers 19 6 0 0 24 2022–23 Sydney Roosters 22 6 3 0 30 2024– Leeds Rhinos 6 2 0 0 8 Total 66 28 24 0 160 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2019 Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 4
Source: ^[1] As of 15 September 2023

He previously also played for the Sydney Roosters, before playing for the Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League. In season 2020 he was on loan to Melbourne in the NRL. The arrangement between Wests and the Storm to trade Momirovski with Harry Grant for the 2020 NRL season was the first loan arrangement in National Rugby League history.^[2]

He played at representative level for the Prime Minister's XIII and is a premiership winning player of 2021.

Background

Momirovski was born in Sydney and is of Macedonian descent.

He played his junior football for the Alexandria Rovers and played for the South Sydney SG Ball and Harold Matthews sides before signing with the Sydney Roosters in 2014.^[3] He Co-Captained the Roosters’ SG Ball side to a premiership in 2014.

Playing career

2016

Paul played in the Sydney Roosters’ Holden Cup side from 2014 to 2016. Momirovski playing in the halves in the Sydney Roosters’ 2016 Holden Cup premiership winning team.

2017

Momirovski made his Intrust Super Premiership debut in round 1 of the 2017 Intrust Super Premiership vs Western Suburbs Magpies, playing at centre. Momirovski played 20 games in the season, scoring 5 tries, kicking 15 goals, and 1 match-winning field goal.

2018

Momirovski made his debut for the Sydney Roosters in round 18 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 originally named in the Roosters squad for the 2018 NRL Grand Final, but he did not play due to Cooper Cronk returning to the squad shifting him to the reserves. Momirovski signed with the Wests Tigers for the 2019 season.^[4]

2019

Momirovski made his debut for Wests against Manly-Warringah in round 1 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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 Storm player Harry Grant.^[7] 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.^[8]

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,^[9] and briefly by Momirovski wishing to sign a new contract with Wests Tigers prior to leaving,^[10] but the deal was finally made official during round 2 of the season, 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.

2021

On 7 February 2021, Momorovski signed with the Penrith Panthers in a swap deal which allowed Daine Laurie to join the Wests Tigers a year early.^[11] In round 1 of the 2021 NRL season, he made his debut for Penrith in a 24–0 victory over North Queensland.^[12] In round 2, he scored two tries as Penrith defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 28–0 at Western Sydney Stadium.^[13] In round 6, he was placed on report after a high tackle on Brisbane player Tom Dearden in Penrith's 20–12 victory. He was later suspended for three games.^[14] He played a total of 19 games for Penrith in the 2021 NRL season including the club's 2021 NRL Grand Final victory over South Sydney.^[15] On 21 October, he signed a three-year deal to rejoin the Sydney Roosters starting in the 2022 season.^[16]

2022

Momirovski played 19 games for the Sydney Roosters in the 2022 NRL season scoring six tries. Momirovski played for the club in their elimination final loss to South Sydney.^[17]

2023

On 2 May, it was announced that Momirovski would be ruled out indefinitely from playing after suffering significant ligament damage to his shoulder.^[18] Momirovski was limited to only three matches for the Sydney Roosters in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 7th on the table and qualified for the finals. He played in the clubs elimination finals loss against Melbourne.^[19] On 7 October, Momirovski signed a two-year deal to join English side Leeds.^[20]

2024

In round 1 of the 2024 Super League season, Momirovski made his club debut for Leeds against Salford. Leeds would win the match 22–16.^[21]

References

1. Rugby League Project
2. "Trading places: Momirovski pens new deal as historic swap with Grant is finalised". 23 March 2020.
3. "Harold Matthews Under 16s Remain Undefeated So Far in 2013". www.rabbitohs.com.au. April 2013.
4. "Titans vs Roosters Summary". ESPN. 15 July 2018.
5. "Tigers replacement kicker Paul Momirovski hooks last minute conversion to force golden point". Fox Sports. 10 August 2019.
6. "Momirovski stars as Tigers set up Leichhardt pre-finals blockbuster". NRL. September 2019.
7. "Tigers and Storm tee up innovative player swap". 29 January 2020.
8. "NRL torpedoes Tigers-Storm loan deal". 18 February 2020.
9. "Tigers-Storm swap deal back on cards as Smith eyes early injury return". 15 March 2020.
10. "Trading places: Tigers-Storm player loan finally goes ahead". 21 March 2020.
11. "Momirovski joins Panthers as Laurie departs". 7 February 2021.
12. "Sydney Roosters break first-round record with 46–4 win over Manly, Penrith Panthers thump Cowboys 46–4". ABC News. 13 March 2021.
13. "South Sydney opens NRL winning account against Manly Sea Eagles, Ben Hunt and Dragons bounce back against Cowboys". ABC News. 20 March 2021.
14. "Momirovski outed for three games". www.smh.com.au. 20 April 2021.
15. "One of finest NRL grand finals of all time provides cure to difficult season". www.theguardian.com. 3 October 2021.
16. "Momirovski signs three-year deal with Sydney Roosters". www.smh.com.au. 21 October 2021.
17. "Robbo switch that woke sleeping giant as full extent of cap crunch laid bare: Brutal Review". www.foxsports.com.au. 12 September 2022.
18. "Casualty Ward: Trbojevic in doubt for Origin; Burns, Stone ruled out". www.nrl.com.
19. "NRL 2023: Sydney Roosters season review". www.sportingnews.com. 17 September 2023.
20. "'Great fit for me': Paul Momirovski's first words after completing Leeds Rhinos move". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
21. "Super League: Leeds 22–16 Salford – Two tries for Ash Handley as Rhinos outlast Red Devils". www.bbc.co.uk.

External links

• Leeds Rhinos profile