As of 18 August 2024, there have been 53 players who have played 300 or more games in the National Rugby League and its predecessors, the NSWRL, ARL and Super League premierships. Players still currently active are listed in bold. [1]
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby XIII in non-Anglophone Europe and South America, and referred to colloquially as football, footy or league in its heartlands, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 m (74 yd) wide and 112–122 m (122–133 yd) long with H-shaped posts at both ends. It is one of the two major codes of rugby football, the other being rugby union. It originated in 1895 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, as the result of a split from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) over the issue of payments to players. The rules of the game governed by the new Northern Rugby Football Union progressively changed from those of the RFU with the specific aim of producing a faster and more entertaining game to appeal to spectators, on whose income the new organisation and its members depended.
The National Rugby League is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand.
Ryan Girdler is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australia international representative goal-kicking centre, he played his club football for the Illawarra Steelers and the Penrith Panthers, winning the 2003 NRL Premiership with the Panthers.
Kenneth John Irvine, also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a first-grade career – 212. No other player has yet managed 200 tries in their Australian club career, with the closest to Irvine's tally being South Sydney Rabbitohs player Alex Johnston who has scored 195 tries. He is also the 2nd all-time top try-scorer for the Australian national team with 33, two behind Darren Lockyer's 35. Irvine's great speed is legendary and he is regarded as Australia's greatest ever winger, being named in 2008 in the list of Australian rugby league's 100 greatest players, as well as being an automatic selection for the Australian Rugby League's "Team of the Century".
Nathan Blacklock is an Australian former professional rugby league and, briefly, rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australia national rugby league representative wing, he played for the Sydney City Roosters and the St. George Dragons before they formed a joint-venture with the Illawarra Steelers to form the St. George Illawarra Dragons, with whom he continued playing, becoming the National Rugby League's top try-scorer for three consecutive seasons from 1999 to 2001. Blacklock also played in the Super League for Hull FC, with whom he won the 2005 Challenge Cup.
Luke Kevin Burt is a professional rugby league coach who was the interim co-coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL, and an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Burt and Craig Hodges were replaced by Justin Holbrook as head coach just before 2020 NRL season commenced.
Benny Wearing was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative three-quarter, he played his club football in the NSWRFL Premiership for South Sydney. Wearing was the third player in Australian rugby league history to score 100 premiership tries.
Jarrod Keith Croker is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre and captained the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League.
Tyrone Roberts is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Burleigh Bears in the Queensland Cup as a halfback or five-eighth.
Shaun Johnson, nicknamed "Magic Johnson", is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who played as a halfback for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Marika Koroibete is a dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. He plays for the Australia national rugby union team, and plays as a winger for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby.
Valentine Holmes is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre or winger for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League and Australia at international level.
The 2020 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2020 National Rugby League season held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on October 25. The match was contested between minor premiers Penrith Panthers and second-placed Melbourne Storm. Melbourne led the game 22-0 at half-time before holding off a late Penrith comeback to win 26-20, claiming their fourth premiership title. Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as the official man of the match. The match was attended by 37,303 spectators due to an enforced limit to stadium capacity by the NSW government as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The game would be the last for Melbourne hooker and captain Cameron Smith after announcing his retirement in the following year, making him the most-capped player in the NRL with 430 games, and the most for a single club.
