200+ Game players for the one club

[bones]

It was tougher in the old days, No physios, harder grounds, harder players, one had to work as well.

You could also argue that the training they do these days would be a lot harder than holding down a normal job.

 

[Chip and Chase]

roosters are
ricko, fitzgibbon, hastings, fittler and mini

Horrie Hastings, he was a tough nut.

 

[Manly To Win!]

Thanks for that Manly to Win! Where did you source that info from - I'd like to take a look at the names?

I used last year's David Middleton yearbook for the current clubs and 2003's for the extinct clubs (I have all but 2 of his yearbooks). I also used a website called Rugby League Project to check the status of some of the current players who were close to reaching 200 at the end of last year, e.g. Gallen.

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That would be 52 behind irvine's 212. By the way beaver's total tally is above 212 now if you count his 3 seasons in the uk.

That is true, but because they were scored outside the NSWRL/ARL/NRL, they don't count towards the record that Irvine holds (which is the most tries scored in a NSWRL/ARL/NRL career).

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Although the length of the competition today has a big say in clubs like Canberra and Brisbane having a relatively high number.

Example: Roy Bull played 1st grade for more than a decade (49-59) and still didn't crack the 200 barrier. The competition was only 18 rounds long back then. Injuries would have played their part, but today, if you played say for 11 seasons and avoided a lot of injuries - you'd easily crack 200.

I think we are the only club to have had two 300+ game players?

That is correct, if you include Menzies' Northern Eagles games (officially, Northern Eagles records are considered seperate to Manly's). You also make an extremely valid point about Roy Bull, however I still consider it pretty pathetic, even considering length of competition, that South's games record holder (Bob McCarthy) only played 211 games. At least the Roosters had Ricketson.

 

[Phantar]

Checked my trusty 'Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players' (2006 edition).

Don't forget that some of their best players were stolen away by ourselves and the Roosters in the 70s:

John O'Neill - 150 games for Souths, 51 for Manly (201)

Ron Coote - 148 games for Souths, 109 for Easts (257)

Elwyn Walters - 129 games for Souths, 61 for Easts and 5 for Manly in 1977 (195). If he had stayed at Souths for his entire career, who knows - he might have broken the 200 game barrier.

Ian Roberts - 65 games for Souths, 100 for Manly, 29 for NQ (194). We'll never know, but if he'd stayed put at Souths, he might not have suffered the injuries he sustained elsewhere (including missing the entire 1996 season at Manly).

Ray Branighan - 55 games for Souths, 114 for Manly. His seven seasons at Manly could have yielded as many as 160-170 odd games, if not for injury. See my comments re: Roberts and Walters.

 

[eagles2win]

Does anyone know when the Middleton book comes out? Or has it already and I haven't seen it anywhere

 

[Phantar]

Around Christmas/NY.