Euan Aitken


Euan Aitken is a Scotland international rugby league footballer who plays as a for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
He has played for the Prime Minister's XIII and Country New South Wales, and has played his entire NRL career to date with the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Background

Aitken was born in Pambula, New South Wales, Australia. He is of Scottish descent through his paternal grandfather, Andrew, Latvian descent through his paternal grandmother, Regina, and Polish descent through his paternal grandmother's mother.
He played his junior rugby league for the Merimbula-Pambula Bulldogs and Shellharbour Sharks. He was then signed by the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Playing career

Early career

In 2013 and 2014, Aitken played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons' NYC team. In September and October 2013, he played for the Australian Schoolboys. On 28 April 2014, he was named to play for the New South Wales under-20s team to play Queensland, but had to pull out due to injury. On 18 October 2014, he played for the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis. At the end of 2014, he was named the Dragons' NYC Player of the Year. In 2015, he moved on to the Dragons' New South Wales Cup team, Illawarra Cutters.

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Aitken played for the Dragons in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines. In Round 3 of the 2015 NRL season, he made his NRL début for the Dragons against the Canberra Raiders, playing at centre in the Dragons' 22–20 win at Canberra Stadium. On 23 March, he re-signed with the Dragons on a two-year contract. In Round 6 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, he scored his first NRL career try in the Dragons' 31–6 win at ANZ Stadium. He finished off his début year in the NRL having played in 23 matches and scoring six tries for the Dragons. On 26 September, he played for the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea, playing off the interchange bench and scoring a try in his team's 40-12 win at Port Moresby.

2016

In February, Aitken played for the Dragons in the 2016 NRL Auckland Nines. On 8 May, he played for New South Wales Country against New South Wales City, where he played at centre and scored a try. In Round 10 against the Canberra Raiders, he scored a try off a wayward pass from Canberra Raiders Jack Wighton, just on the halfway siren in golden-point extra-time to win the match for the Dragons 16–12.

2017

Aitken was forced to miss Scotland's 2017 World Cup campaign due to injury.

2018

Aitken made 23 appearances and scored 10 tries for St George as the club finished 7th on the table at the end of the regular season. St George had led the competition after 16 rounds before losing 6 of their last 9 games which was reminiscent to their 2017 season. Aitken missed out on playing in the club's finals campaign which saw them upset the Brisbane Broncos in week one of the finals before being eliminated the following week by South Sydney 13-12.

2019

In Round 21 of the 2019 NRL season, Aitken made his 100th first grade appearance and scored a try as St George defeated the Gold Coast 40-28 at Kogarah Oval.