which player has played the most first-grade games in their career?

[undertaker]

I'm interested to know this. I know out of all the Australian players, Steve Menzies has played the most, playing a total of 429 games at the top level (for Manly/Northern Eagles/Bradford/Catalans). He is still going, as he signed a one-year contract extension at the Catalans. This is a phenomenal effort, since the way the game is today, the days of players playing 200+ matches throughout their career will be far and few between in the years to come.

However, I found that Shaun Edwards (former English halfback) played a total of 584 first grade matches throughout his career spanning 1983-2000. Other players, such as Ellery Hanley, Gary Connolly etc. also played a lot of matches.

So, is there anyone else that has played more than 584 first-grade matches?

 

[cb4]

Closest I could think of would be Keith Senior.

Edit.

547 games for Keith.

 

[undertaker]

Closest I could think of would be Keith Senior.

Edit.

547 games for Keith.

Yeah, Ketih Senior is another player that came to mind. A real stalwart for Leeds. Is he still playing or has he hung up the boots already? He'd be about 35-36 or so now.

EDIT: I made a mistake. Menzies has played 425, not 429 as I stated earlier. Next year will be his 20th season at first-grade level

 

[firechild]

Do those numbers include representative matches? Menzies has 464 all up and Lockyer has 454.

Keith Senior's 547 includes matches for GB and England.

It's not surprising that there are several British players with very high numbers given that they have both the Super League and the Challenge Cup meaning that most players play more games per season than NRL players.

EDIT: Shaun Edwards played a total 624 games at the top level including representative matches.

 

[Loudstrat]

I thought there was a very obvious name that smashed those mentioned aove. History, fellas. It didnt start in 1995.

Brian Bevan played 702 games at least. My trusted resource, Wikipedia, has him playing 7 games for Easts, 695 for Warrington, and none for Blackpool Borough, although he scored 30 tries for them.

I dunno if he is the record holder, but whoever is made his mark in England. Look there.

 

[Deacon]

I thought there was a very obvious name that smashed those mentioned aove. History, fellas. It didnt start in 1995.

Brian Bevan played 702 games at least. My trusted resource, Wikipedia, has him playing 7 games for Easts, 695 for Warrington, and none for Blackpool Borough, although he scored 30 tries for them.

I dunno if he is the record holder, but whoever is made his mark in England. Look there.

Quite a feet, 30 Tries in no games

 

[undertaker]

Wikipedia isn't always reliable, as shown from your post.

Brian Bevan played 620 matches for Warrington, 8 for the Roosters and he also played some for Blackpool (although, don't know how many). So, excluding rep games, he played at least 628 first grade games.

628!!! That's a hell of a lot. I couldn't imagine if players today played that amount. I know the game was very different back in his era, but still, you'd have to be very fit to play 628 games in whatever era.

Also, someone else made the point about how in England, the Challenge Cup games also count towards records. However, more importantly, the RL championship season in England used to be longer before SL started in 1996.

 

[Bullseye]

The great Gus Risman (GB RL Hall of Fame Member) played an amazing 728 games between 1929 and 1954. I'm pretty sure he's the record holder.

 

[Bullseye]

Nope, I'm wrong. The Record holder is Wigan fullback Jim Sullivan who made 928 1st team appearances between 1921 and 1946.

Gus Risman is second with 873 appearances.

Neil Fox is third with 828 appearances plus 28 as sub.

Source is the Official RFL Rothmans RL Yearbook.

 

[Bullseye]

Wikipedia isn't very accurate as I found out when cross referencing with official stats.

 

[WireMan]

Quite a feet, 30 Tries in no games

He was just that damn good.

 

[carcharias]

Toovey is on about 1247 and still going

 

[_snafu_]

Toovey is on about 1247 and still going

Langer would be up there too.

 

[Jason Maher]

Jim Sullivan - isn't he the bloke who scored over 6000 points in his career? Just imagine how many Hazem El Masri would have reached if he'd played 900+ games! I won't even mention a certain Roosters player from the 1930s. I don't think there are enough atoms in the universe to describe how many points he would have scored in 900+ games.

 

[Bullseye]

Yes, Jim Sullivan scored 6022 points in his career but even that was surpassed by Neil Fox with 6220.

 

[Von]

All amazing numbers by the above stated players.

Wish the NRL made more of a deal when a player reaches 300 first grade games....let alone 600!

 

[Cranky]

It irritrates me no end how there seems to be an emphasis on premiership games played in the NRL rather than including Country, State, even Country vs City games. The rep games take more out of a player than a NRL matech but are ignored.

 

[Ozzy]

Langer would be up there too.

In that case what about Ronnie Palmer?

 

[H.H]

Got a question on first games and what qualifies them to this status.

Do QRL games (pre 1988/Broncos) count? They don't seem to and I can't work out why - they definitly should in my opinion.

Eg, take someone like Wally Lewis, his record says he played something like only 80 odd FGG's.....obviously not counting his QRL career from 1978 - 1987...

I reckon that's a bit wrong....sure it wasn't as good a standard as the NSWRL, but it was still blo ody decent with some tremendouse players running around.

Anyone know the official position here?

 

[davi]

Well done Cameron Smith, great effort.

The NRL has struck a special medal to honour Melbourne captain Cameron Smith, who will on Saturday break the all-time record for NRL matches.

Smith will be presented with the medal by NRL CEO Todd Greenberg following the Melbourne-Parramatta Qualifying Final at AAMI Park, which will be his 356th NRL match.

Smith will break Darren Lockyer's all-time premiership appearance record of 355 matches against the Eels.

Like Lockyer, Smith has played all matches for one club.

"This is quite simply an extraordinary achievement," NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said.

"He has been an incredible player over the course of his long career with Melbourne, but more than that, he has been a wonderful leader and an ambassador for rugby league.

https://www.insidesport.com.au/news/smith-to-be-honoured-with-medal-472811