Amongst a sea of commentators attempting to nail the pronunciation of certain player's surnames, Nick Cotric is swimming against the tide.
The Serbian winger is one of a host of NRL stars, including Canberra team mates Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Josh Papalii, who commentators are trying to better pronounce the surnames of as they would in their respective cultures.
We've seen 'Papa-lee' (Papalii) become 'Papa-lee-ee', and 'Nick-ol Clock-stad' (Nicoll-Klokstad) become 'Nick-ol Klook-star', but Cotric doesn't want to join the party.
After hearing one too many people mangle the attempt at the correct pronunciation, 'Chotch-rich', the outside back wants people to mispronounce his name as they have been and call him 'Kot-rick'.
"It's actually 'Chotch-rich' but some people get it wrong, so I'll just keep it at 'Kot-rick' for now. It's just easier that way so I just want to keep it to that," Cotric told Theย Canberra Times.
"I think it's just been too hard for people to pronounce.
"My dad said, 'Mate keep it as 'Kot-rick',' so we'll keep it as that.
"All my relatives back in Serbia on my mum's side, they all say it how it is meant to be pronounced back there, but I'll keep it plain and simple here.
"I'm just going to let it slide."
Cotric was passionate about the correct pronunciation back in 2019, adding accents above the letter 'c' on his NSW Origin debut jersey, however three years of butchered attempts have seen the former Bulldog backflip.
The Raiders will be buoyed by Cotric's return this weekend, also joined by Joseph Tapine and Ricky Stuart, who both missed sat out last week's match against the Dragons for very different reasons.
Canberra must win their clash against Newcastle if they are to remain in the hunt for the top eight.
