A Queensland and national representative forward, he played fourteen Test matches for Australia, including two as captain.
Coached by former Wallaby hooker Edward Bonis, Cottrell was quickly mentored and made a rapid rise to the representative level.
Although, he was deemed too young to make the 1947–48 tour to the British Isles, by 1949 he had established himself as Australia's number one hooker.
When Allan was injured in 1950, Cottrell was picked to captain the Wallabies in a home Test series against the visiting British Lions, though both matches were lost.
[1] Howell quotes the Australian sports journalist Jack Pollard who wrote : Before each game, he excluded everything but the approaching challenges from his mind.