In the aftermath of the Penrith Panthers winning their third straight Grand Final in 2023, I think its a fun time to have a think about who would make the best Panthers team of all time. This is a difficult one. You have to leave out some great players who have contributed so much to…
Having won two Grand Finals in a row, the Penrith Panthers entered the 2023 season looking to become the first team in the modern era to win three straight Grand Finals, a monumental goal in not only the 10 meter era, but the salary cap era. The Panthers were outstanding in the regular season, never…
So you want to know what the biggest come from behind victory is in an NRL Grand Final? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On October 1st 2023 the Penrith Panthers were down 8-24 against the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL Grand Final in the 61st minute of the match. They would go on…
Two years after being excluded from the premiership due to salary cap breaches the Canterbury Bulldogs found themselves rebuilt and facing off the with Minor Premiers in the 2004 NRL Grand Final. The animosity between these two teams was palpable, with the Roosters constantly being linked to Bulldogs players over the previous few seasons. A…
Coming into the 2022 NRL Grand Final the Penrith Panthers faced their old foe the Parramatta Eels, one of the few teams who could boast that they beat the Panthers during the regular season, and a team that was confident of their chances of preventing the Panthers from joining the very short list of Future…
I had this nice little video pop up on my YouTube feed recently and I thought it would be of interest to my readers. The video is from British Pathé which is a channel that shows a lot of news clips from many moons ago. This one in particular features an children’s Aboriginal Rugby League…
The Penrith Panthers came into the 2021 NRL season looking to go one step further. Having lost the 2020 NRL Grand Final, this young Panthers team was hungry to be crowned Champions. Check out aviator game app download! After starting the season with a 12 game winning streak the Panthers squad was decimated by State…
Every so often a team gets off to a bad start to the season and you wonder just how bad things can get. On the Fergo and The Freak NRL podcast Rugby League statistician Andrew Ferguson and Rugby League expert League Freak go through the 20 worst seasons a club has endured in the NRL’s…
The 2005 Wests Tigers run to their maiden NRL Premiership came out of nowhere. Having finish the 2004 season in 9th position on the NRL ladder, the Tigers were a bit of a strange mix of players and no one really had them on their radar heading into the 2005 season. Little did anyone know…
In 1997 Rugby League in Australia had been split in two. Years of turmoil within the game had seen Rugby League team itself apart. While all of this was going on, something special was brewing. For a number of years the Newcastle Knights and Manly Sea Eagles had developed a rivalry we rarely see in…
In the years leading up to the 2003 NRL season the Penrith Panthers has struggled through some lean years. One thing that helps supporters through those tough times was seeing the emergence of a group of very good junior players all coming through into first grade at the same time. This, coupled with the signing…
In this episode League Freak names his best team of the 1990’s made up of the best performers from that decade. This is a bit of a walk down memory lane and a fun episode to lighten things up after a few heavy episodes. Feel free to let us know who you team of the…
In this episode Rugby League historian Andrew Ferguson takes us through the first Rugby League tour to Australia which was by the New Zealand Māori . From promising beginnings to a breakdown in the relationship between the Māori and the Australian administrators, this is a fascinating story that had some big ramifications for the game. To have…
So you want to know what the biggest loss in the history of the Cronulla Sharks is? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On August 23rd in 2003 the Cronulla Sharks were beaten 74-4 by the Parramatta Eels in round 24 at Parramatta Stadium. 7,050 were in attendance as Jamie Lyon scored 5 tries…
Want to know which players has played the most NRL games ion history? Well, you’ve come top the right place! Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith played 430 games in the NRL between 2002 and 2020. He played all of these games for the Melbourne Storm. During this time Cameron Smith won and incredible 310 games…
Goto manscaped.com and get 20% off + free shipping with the code: NRL In this episode we discuss the birth of the salary cap within Australian Rugby League. It was brought in for many different reasons, and through changing conditions in club finances, to court rulings regarding the player draft, we saw many changes to a concept that…
1997 was the height of the Super League War, with Australian Rugby League officially split in two and the ARL completely isolated by the rest of the Rugby League playing world. There were so many stories that emerged during this year that would be pivotal to the future of the game. It was one of…
In this episode Rugby League historian Andrew Ferguson profiles Pat Walsh, a naturally gifted sportsman who excelled in three different sporting codes in four different countries. Pat Walsh career stats: https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/pat-walsh/summary.html Follow the boys on Twitter at AndrewRLP and LeagueFreak Visit The Rugby League Project for all your Rugby League statistics and The Official Website Of The Glorious…
On recent episode of the Fergo and The Freak NRL Podcast Rugby League statistician Andrew Ferguson listed the best and worst NRL teams of all times. These ranking were based on a number of different markers that each team had to make. For instance, the best teams all had to have a winning percentage of…
So you want to know what the biggest losing margin in Manly Sea Eagles history is? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On the 21st of August in 2005 the Cronulla Sharks defeated the Manly Sea Eagles 68-6 art Sharks Park in front of 13,325 spectators. Brett Kimmorely and Nigel Vagana both scored 3…
In 1991 the Penrith Panthers came into the season focused on going one step further. Having made the 1990 NRL Grand Final against the Canberra Raiders, the Panthers celebrated the fact they had just got there. The Panthers had been a struggling football club until the mid 1980’s when an influx of local juniors saw…
On a recent episode of Fergo and The Freak I put together a list of the 17 best Indigenous Rugby League players I have seen in my lifetime. Have a listen here: I am too young to have seen the great Arthur Beetson play the game. That needs to be noted. You can probably work…
So you want to know the biggest losing margin in the NZ Warriors history? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On May 18th in 2013 the Penrith Panthers defeated the New Zealand Warriors 62-6 at Penrith Football Stadium in front of 9,386 spectators. Isaac John scored 3 of the Panthers 10 tries and Luke…
Want to know the biggest winning margin in the history of the Wests Tigers? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On the 19th of August in 2005 the Wests Tigers defeated the Canterbury Bulldogs 54-2 at Stadium Australia in front of 29,542 spectators. The on the 3rd of August in 2008 the Wests Tigers…
So you want to know what the biggest loss in the Brisbane Broncos history is? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On June the 4th in 2020 the Sydney Roosters defeated the Brisbane Broncos 59-0 at Lang Park in Brisbane. The game was played in front of no supporters due to the 2020 Covid19…
So you want to know who has scored the most tries over the entire history of the Melbourne Storm? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Between 2003 and 2018 Billy Slater scored 190 tries for the Melbourne Storm in 319 first grade games. Billy Slater played his entire clubs career for the Melbourne Storm…
So you want to know who has scored the most points in a Rugby Super League match? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On the 16th of July in 1999 Iestyn Harris scored 42 points against the Huddersfield Giants in a 86-6 victory by the Leeds Rhinos at Headingley in front of 11,525 spectators….
So you want to know who has scored the most tries in a Rugby Super League season? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In 2016 Denny Solomona of the Castleford Tigers scored 40 tries during the 2016 Super League season. This eclipsed the previous record that was set in 2004 by Danny McGuire of…
So you want to know the biggest losing margin in North Queensland Cowboys history? Well, you’ve come to the right place! The Cowboys have lost by 62 points on three seperate occasions. On August the 27th in 1995 the Canterbury Bulldogs defeated the North Queensland Cowboys 66-4 at Belmore Sports Ground in front of 18,818…
So you want to know the biggest winning margin in the history of the Sydney Roosters? Well, you’ve come to the right place! On May the 18th in 1935 the Sydney Roosters defeated the Canterbury Bulldogs 87-7 at the Sydney Sports Ground in round 6 of the NSWRFL season. The great Dave Brown scored 5…