Nick Mrdja

Personal Details Date of Birth: 30 November 1978 Place of Birth: Perth, Western Australia Height: 186cm (6' 1") Position: Striker Club Summary Club Games Goals Bayswater City (1997) ? ? Kingsway Olympic (1998) ? ? Canberra Cosmos (1998/99) 3 0 Bayswater City (1999) ? ? Perth SC (2000) ? ? Perth Glory (2001-2004) 73 25 AIK Solna (2004/05) 12 2 Central Coast Mariners (2005-2011) 64 17 Melbourne Victory (2010, on loan) 8 1 Total 149 45 International Summary Games Goals Australia 'A' (2007) 1 0

Career Brief

Mrdja represented West Australia at junior level and announced his arrival as a first team player by winning the 1997 State League Rookie of the Year while at Bayswater City. A season at Kingsway Olympic preceded his move onto the national league stage with Canberra Cosmos, Mrdja making his National Soccer League debut against Perth Glory in November. However, not all went to plan and Mrdja returned to play for Bayswater then Perth SC before going under the surgeon's knife for a knee operation.

In February 2001 Mrdja signed on with Perth Glory, making his debut off the bench later than month at home to Eastern Pride. Injury forced him to miss the start of 2001/02 and a full twelve months after joining Glory Mrdja scored his first national league goal away at Sydney United. 2002/03 was a watershed season for the strongly build striker, who featured in all 26 regular season games and made his 50th Glory appearance in the June 2003 Grand Final victory over Olympic Sharks.

Mrdja built on those successes by finishing 2004/05 as Glory's second top goal scorer and with the satisfaction of scoring the last National Soccer League goal - a golden goal winner in the Grand Final defeat of Parramatta Power. A year without an Australian national league led Mrdja to sign on for a season with Sweden club AIK Solna.

Upon returning to Australia Mrdja joined A-Legue side Central Coast Mariners but, as luck would have it, he was struck down by a knee injury on the eve of the 2005/06 season. Due to a variety of knee complaints it would be a staggering 62-weeks before Mrdja again stepped on to the park. His Mariners league debut came at Queensland Roar in October 2006, with the striker bagging his first goal against New Zealand Knights the following month.

Mrdja declared himself fit for the third A-League campaign and, on the back of two goals in three games, made his Socceroos debut in the September 2007 friendly against Argentina. Injury sidelined him again soon after with an operation on his right knee the solution. After convincing the coaching staff he was worthy of another contract, Mrdja would feature 39 times across the 2008/09 and 2009/10 campaigns, scoring 10 goals.

In February 2010 Mrdja controversially switched to the Melbourne Victory camp as an injury replacement player for the club's A-League finals and Asian Champions League campaigns. Further knee problems limited the big strike to just six outings in 2010/11, after which he decided enough was enough and slipped into retirement.

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This page was last updated on the 7th September, 2012.