NRL: Fifty-year record under threat from new-age wingers
Rugby league wingers were again in the limelight in round 22 of the NRL Premiership, scoring 16 tries over the weekend.
It raises the possibility that one of the game’s greatest records could come under threat in the future.
For those who watched Hall of Fame winger Ken Irvine score many of his 212 first-grade tries, it is hard to imagine his incredible record is finally under threat after standing for a half century.
Irvine played 176 games for the North Sydney Bears and 60 for Manly in the 1960s and ’70s.
Small in stature at 173cm and 78kg compared to today’s big wingers like South Sydney’s Alex Johnston (185cm, 95kg) and Sydney’s Daniel Tupou (196cm, 105kg), he was lightning across the ground.
If you included his representative tries for City (7), NSW (30), and Australia (33), his lifetime haul was 282.
After 115 years, Irvine is still the only player in Australia to have scored more than 200 first-class tries.
The closest to him is former Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater (190), who conceded at the weekend that Johnston would soon “blow past me” on the all-time list.
“Alex will get me easily, he’s after Irvine’s record now,” he said after Johnston bagged a hat-trick in Souths’ 32-18 win against Wests Tigers.
Johnston is a wonderful finisher and that treble boosted his career tally to 180.
That is still 32 behind the great Irvine’s total, which seems a long way off.
But when you consider Johnston is only 28 and averages just over 18 tries a season, there’s a possibility, if he plays on for another five seasons, he could threaten Irvine’s previously untouchable record.
Irvine played in the ’60s and ’70s, when wingers were often the brunt of jokes about being the guys that hung around with rugby league players.
But those days and those jokes stopped with the arrival of 100kg wingers that could run over the top of defenders.
Some of the giant wingers who have dominated rugby league in the past 30 years include Andrew Ettingshausen (166 tries), Wendell Sailor (127 tries), Kyle Feldt (125 tries), the Morris twins Brett and Josh, who scored 334 tries between them, and Kiwi brute Manu Vatuvei (152 tries).
The winger’s role has undergone a massive transformation in the past 25 years, to the point where they are now more respected for what they contribute to the team.
Wingers are no longer viewed as the guys who hang around on the end of flashy backlines waiting for the ball so they can use their speed.
They are much more heavily involved in play and often get into dummy half to take the load off their forwards whenever they can.
They have to defuse bombs, bring the ball back hard, save tries, make hit-ups, take intercepts, and most of all, be circus acrobats in the air scoring spectacular tries every weekend.
The seven leading tryscorers this season, headed by Newcastle’s Dominic Young with 20, are all wingers.
NRL bookmakers have Young pegged as a $2.20 favourite to finish as the league’s top tryscorer this season, with Johnston ($4) and Gold Coast’s Alofiana Khan-Pereira ($5) his nearest challengers on 18 tries apiece.
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