Playing Career
Harrison attended Wavell State High School in Brisbane, Queensland, and played junior football for Norths Aspley. He represented the Australian Schoolboys team in 1998.
Harrison made his debut in the National Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos against the New Zealand Warriors on 20 February 2000 (Round 3). He played from the interchange bench for the Broncos in their 2000 NRL grand final victory over the Sydney Roosters.
After moving to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, he was named the club's player of the year, winning the George Piggins Medal in 2004, and serving as the club's captain for a brief period in 2005. Harrison was selected to play for one State of Origin match, playing for the Queensland Maroons in game 3, 2005, thus become South Sydney's first Queensland Origin representative in many years. Harrison's elevation to the Souths captaincy in 2005 appeared to be a turning point in both Souths' 2005 season and Harrison's career, as Souths won six of eight matches under his captaincy to avoid the 2005 wooden spoon (the only losses in that period were both against the 2005 Grand Finalists, Wests Tigers and North Queensland).
He moved to the Sydney Roosters for the 2006 NRL season, but struggled to play regular football following injuries and bad form. However, he did manage 41 out of a possible 48 matches at the Roosters. He returned to Queensland to play for the Gold Coast Titans from 2008. At the Titans, he started at lock and performed well covering five-eighth while Rogers was out on suspension. As a result, he was named 18th man for the 2008 State of Origin series for Queensland. He started in both the second and third State of Origin games. Harrison was picked ahead of his club captain Scott Prince (who was only drafted into the squad after a knee injury sustained by Darren Lockyer) to play in the second State of Origin on 11 June 2008.
In April 2009, he was named in the preliminary 25 man squad to represent Queensland in the opening State of Origin match for 2009.
Read more about this topic: Ashley Harrison
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