Rugby league is a tough game. For the thousands of players who have entertained us over the years only a select few have been able to reach the 300 club of 300 first grade games played.
Melbourne, Queensland and Australian great Cameron Smith will have an opportunity to reach an unprecedented and most likely an unreachable game tally of 400 first grade games this season.
Smith, 35 years of age, has signed on to play for his beloved Storm for another two years.
Love or hate him you must respect the achievement should he reach 400 first grade NRL games. Add in state, international and All-Star games you are looking at an astonishing 500 games!
Only 34 players have passed the 300 game barrier in the history of the NRL. Greats like Peter Sterling, Andrew Johns are not on the list. On the list is Andrew Ettingshausen who played 324 without a Premiership win. The game can be cruel.
Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer and Terry Lamb, all celebrated and loved players by their club and state supporters headline the list of 300 games as all three reached the heights the game had to offer.
Others like Chris Heighington, Luke Priddis and John Morris make it into the 300 club. Not household known names but rugby league lovers know them and respect them as good honest clubmen.
The nearest active player on the list is Smith's old team mate and Roosters half back Cooper Cronk who sits 4th on the all-time list of games played on 349. Cronk should surpass all except Smith if he stays fit for the 2019 season.
Also on the the 300 game list is Billy Slater who accumulated 319 games before retiring at the end of 2018. Whatever they are doing at the Storm they should bottle it. To have three players reach 300 games they certainly should be admired.
To reach the 300-plus game list comes hard work, dedication and an element of luck. Slater is one that looked as if his career may have ended just short of the milestone but fort back from a series of serious shoulder injuries.
Of the 34 players on the 300 game list, 14 were one-club men. To play your career with the one club in the modern game will be a very hard prospect. Only a select few "franchise" players will get an opportunity to do so in the current 'business first, player second' modern game mantra.
Current players Paul Gallan and John Sutton have reached the 300 game club and will continue to rack up as many as they can before they to have to put away the boots and retire in the next few seasons. Neither look to be a threat to Smith's record.
The NRL needs to celebrate these very rare individuals. The modern gladiators of a very tough game. I hope Smith reaches the 400 games. If he does no matter the team you support or your personal feelings about the man himself we should all celebrate the massive accomplishment.
The 400-game club will be a lonely place. I doubt we will see anyone reach this milestone again.
Who is your favourite player on the 300 games list?
Let me know your thoughts.
Got to be Billy. The only player on the list I saw play who could get the crowd excited by just going near the ball.
+1. He should have played on 1 more season.
Gunna miss him.
I thought he definitely capable of another season, when you think how he came back from those shoulder injuries and played the way he did that was a pretty tough call.
He was great for the game and i hated they way he dominated NSW but credit where it is due…
Fantastic and can’t wait to see this remarkable record be created by Smith in reaching 400. Truly amazing and mind boggling. The bloke never gets injured.
Of Coarse for me its great to see Minichiello the premiership winning captain reach the 300 club after he looked like at one point he would retire with 4 straight years of injuries. When he played his last game number 302 he beat the Roosters locally born Rooster Luke Ricketson who held the most club games of 301 for 12 seasons at the Roosters.
Fittler the Roosters premiership winning captain and Australian and Origin captain played 217 of his 336 at the Chooks and of coarse we all love Cooper Cronk at the Roosters what he did in the finals and grand final in 2018 will always have him picked as the halfback in the Roosters all time great 21 century team when it is picked one day. Even though his 300 game club was achieved at the powerful Storm club he showed the League World what an absolute LEGEND the bloke is. Others that impress me are tough hard heads Wiki and Watmough and Heighington who played the game physical yet cracked the 300.๐ช๐๐โโโโโโโ
Of course Wood Chook dribbles on about the Roosters.
Toss bag that bloke ๐
๐I also think Cam Smith’s longevity is due to his slight build.
It may be a condensed example but the bigger, musclier ufc fighters always burn out quicker and take longer to recover than the smaller guys.
it’s a sad state of affairs
Since when did the thread become a conversation about the roosters woodchook?
I think the only player that has any opportunity to reach Smiths record is Jarrod Croker, already on 230 games, missing this season hurts his odds, though if he manages to stay injury free and play till his 36 (birthdays at the end of the season) heโll hit anywhere between 400-420 games and Iโd love to see smiths record get beaten by a underrated player like Croker
“Who is your favourite player on the 300 games list?
Let me know your thoughts.”
Nutters like you tossells above obviously did not bother to read the full story as usual. My answer to the last sentence in this story was…โฆโฆโฆโฆโฆ.and your stupid answer “What salary cap” to the story is ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅI’M A NUTTER๐๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ๐๐๐คฃ
Again I will ask you the same question as the writer of this story asks…โฆโฆโฆ.”Who is your favourite player on the 300 games listโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Let me know your thoughts.”
Since the question was asked at the very end of the story then my reply is exactly what he asks. See people like yourself and lots of others on here read the first paragraph and think that that’s is all the story is. If you read the last little bit at the end of this story mate you would of got what he asked.
“Who is your favourite player on the 300 games list?
Let me know your thoughts.”
My reply starts with I hope Smith reaches the 400 club and how amazing it will be when he creates this record, then ends with the favourite players who reached it including some players who did not play for the Roosters. Now seen as though you do not read the last part of a post I will start it off in the begging of the next post so you will read it๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ
This one is for you chabel…o1,
Wiki and Watmough and Heighington who played the game physical yet cracked the 300 was at the end of my post, please note one more time for the dummies that they are not Chook players and never put on a Roosters guernsey in their careers ๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ๐๐๐ Facts mate that all we want, not made up false accusations that I have turned the writers fair question into a Roosters thread. ๐ฑโ๐ฏโ๐ช๐ด๐FACT
Tom Trbojevic on 77 games and 22yrs old if he plays injured free for 15 seasons then he will clock up 437 games and maybe 1 0r 2 more if Manly can fluke a top eight spot within those 15 years, which I doubt. so probably at best he will make it to 437 less missing state of Origin for those 15 years means he misses out on representing Manly for 45 games so bad luck I made a miss calculation and it won’t happen.๐ช๐ด๐โฆ…๐๐๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ๐๐๐๐คฃ๐
Surely It is unpossible for Croker to reach that tally, for he has been, (unfairly perhaps), been overlooked for rep duties.
“To reach the 300-plus game list comes hard work, dedication and an element of luck.”
Plus timing.
With longer seasons and rep duties, the player from a previous era had little chance of making this club.
I am impressed with rabbithos clubman Sutton making this list.
Woodchuck or whatever your name is, your posts are too long, thatโs why no one likes to read them, after reading a paragraph it gets too boring to read mate.
Just putting it out there keep it simple
WoodChook’s posts can sometimes be a bit lengthy but it seems to me he’s pretty passionate about the game, and his team, so let him have his say.
I enjoy reading all your points of view, short or long, it’s always interesting to see another person’s opinion on something.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Crocker will reach the 400 club because of his history with injury. The secret to Smith’s longevity in the game is his remarkable injury free career. I reckon the only one who will go close is Cronk – in the foreseeable future.
It’s not just the physical strength and durability it takes to get to that number of games, but the sheer mental strength and determination too.