Background
Cottrell was born in Brisbane, Queensland and attended Street Laurence"s College in there.
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Nev Cottrell
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Career
A Queensland and national representative forward, he played fourteen Test matches for Australia, two as captain. He played in a Brisbane West End rugby side in "B" grade competitions before being invited to join the Brisbane Young Men’s Christian Association side in the Queensland Premier competition coached by former Wallaby hooker Edward Bonis who mentored Cottrell on a rapid rise to the representative level His state representative debut was made for Queensland in 1947 against a touring All Blacks side.
He was deemed too young to make the 1947-1948 tour to the British Isles.
By 1949 he was Australia"s number one hooker and appeared again for Queensland against the New Zealand Māori and made his national representative debut with three Test appearances against the Māori visitors. Cottrell played in both Tests and seven matches.
With Allan out injured in 1950, Cottrell was picked to captain the Wallabies in a home Test series against the visiting British Lions. Both matches were lost.
He made seven further Test appearances, three in a 1951 home series against the All Blacks under the captaincy of Keith Winning and four in 1952 against Fiji (two) and New Zealand (two) under John Solomon. Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland New Zealand.
