NRL Loyal Legends Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stacey Jones

When he retired in 2009, Jones held the records for most games (261), most tries (77) and most points (674) for the New Zealand club. His career spanned 14 years, with a couple of years playing for a French club not included.
Cleary played with three other sides before joining the Warriors, Ridge spent most of his career at Manly, and Logan Swann, though a Kiwi all his career, missed out on becoming a Loyal Legend by only five games.

Answer: Matt Geyer

Melbourne had an immediate impact on the NRL, winning the premiership in only their second year. Geyer was a major part of their success, topping the try scoring record for the league in 1999.
Scott Hill (177 games) was also a Melbourne original but spent a season at the Bulldogs. Marcus Bai was yet another who started at the Storm in 1998. He was a very talented winger who was born in Papua New Guinea. He headed off to chase the big bucks in England in 2004. Moala, a Tongan national representative, played 34 games before retiring in 2004.

Answer: Steve Menzies

Even though I despise the Manly club, I admired the skills and sportsmanship displayed by Steve Menzies. He played mainly as a forward, a position not renowned for scoring opportunities, but still managed to plant the ball down 180 times- at the time that put him second on the all-time try-scorers list.

'Wombat' was Graham Eadie and 'Igor' was Terry Randall, both Loyal Legends themselves. All the incorrect options played over 200 games for the Sea Eagles, too.

Answer: Paul Sironen

Sirro wins this race by a nose! He played 246, Jack played 244, Bouncing Benny scored 234 and Keith Barnes, OAM (Order of Australia), emulated Holman by becoming a referee after his playing days were over. He played 194 games.

Answer: Norm Provan

Coyne played 244 games, Young and Billy Smith both played 234, Langlands played 227 and several other topped the 200 mark.

In the 1963 Final, the weather was atrocious and all players were covered in mud. At the end of the game Provan and Arthur Summons, captain of Western Suburbs, were photographed in a very sportsmanlike embrace. That photo was turned into a statue called 'The Gladiators', and was presented to the winner of the Grand Final.

The Illawarra Steelers were in existence from 1982 to 1998 and did not produce any Loyal Legends. They merged with the St George Dragons in 1999, a club with a very rich history. Only one player qualifies as a Loyal Legend for playing with both teams- Shaun Timmins, 86 for Steelers and 124 for the Dragons (1994-2006).

Answer: Eric Simms

Simms finished with 206, after a career lasting from 1965 to 1975. Coleman played 208 Rabbitoh games, but also spent a season at Western Suburbs. Niszczot only managed 114, and Mario 'The Maltese Falcon' Fenech, left the team in 1990 to play for the North Sydney Bears.

Unfortunately, Sattler does not qualify for Loyal Legend in this quiz, because he fell short of the 200 game criteria by three games. Churchill played 157, Ron Coote also played with the Roosters for a few years, as did Terry Fahey.

Answer: Mick Cronin

Michael 'The Crow' Cronin (216 games) retired in 1986 and bought a pub in Gerringong, on the New South Wales south coast. Ray 'Mr Perpetual Motion' Price (229 games) also departed the NRL in 1986, but linked up with Wakefield, Sterlo (227 games) went to Hull after the 1992 season and later became a commentator and part of the 'Footy Show' team and Brett 'Bert' Kenny (265 games) went to Wigan after the 1993 season. All four of these players were in the flag-winning teams in 1981, 82, 83 and 86.

Answer: Andrew Ettingshausen

E.T. played 328 games for his club (a League record when he retired in 2000) and also represented NSW 27 times in State of Origin games. In addition, he chalked up 29 International games for Australia. The coach that made the rather humourous remark was none other than Jack Gibson.

Greg Pierce played 210 games between 1969 and 1980, about half of them as captain.

Mitch Healey played from 1990-2000 scoring a total of 33 tries in 223 games.

New Zealand-born Sorensen played 217 games for the Sharkies, but spent one season (1984) with the Roosters, so he does not qualify as a Loyal Legend.

Answer: Andrew Johns

For his club he scored 2176 points, also a League record at the time. He held the records for most goals, tries and total points in a game, most points in an International, and a truckload of other awards. He also captained the Knights for almost half of his career.

Butterfield played 229 games for the Knights, but also played a mere four games with the Panthers, therefore disqualifying himself from being called a Loyal Legend. Paul 'The Chief' Harragon retired in 1999 and went on to become a very popular media personality, but he only managed 169 games. He also played 20 games for NSW in Origin and a further 20 in the national colours. O'Davis scored 223 games in his career that spanned 15 years.

Answer: Paul Bowman

Bowman played 203 games, before retiring in 2007. He then joined the team as assistant coach. Buttigieg was also one of the original lineup, but retired with 101 games to his credit. Ty Williams was a lively halfback who finished with 151 games and Grant Bell was the inaugural coach of the team.

Answer: Michael Hancock

Michael Hancock stepped down at the end of 2000 with 274 games and five premierships under his belt. 'Alfie' retired mid-season in 1999, but after a season in England he played another year with Brisbane.

Wally Lewis only played 46 games for Brisbane before moving to the Gold Coast for two seasons, but he made an indelible mark on the game. He also played over sixty games for his state and country, many as captain. Chris Johns was well into his career before the Broncos came into being; he had played 56 games with St George, and a season in England, before contributing 171 games to the Broncos.

Andrew Gee played 255 games, but was not part of the original team- he started his career in 1989.

Answer: Jason Croker

Croker notched up an amazing 318 games for Canberra, and then spent another three seasons playing for the French team, Catalan. Laurie Daley played 244 games and in 2008 (the NRL Centennial year) was named as one of the 100 best players of all time. He also is a member of the Indigenous Team of the Century. David Furner played an even 200 games before turning to coaching.

His father, Don also played for and coached the Canberra team. Wiki played 225 games, but he also amassed 90 games in Auckland colours.

He also played for the Kiwi national team 55 times!

Answer: Royce Simmons

New Zealand-born Puletua played 211 games before seeing out his career in England. He has played international football for both NZ and Samoa.

Royce retired after the Panthers won their first premiership, in 1991. In his post-match euphoria, he promised to buy everyone in Penrith a beer!

Izzard was a nuggety centre that racked up 205 games before neck injuries forced him out of the game in 1992.

Greg 'Brandy' Alexander was a classy halfback and fullback. He played 227 games for the Chocolate Soldiers, interrupted by a couple of seasons with the Auckland Warriors.

All four of these players were named in the Penrith Legends Team, and rightly so!

Answer: Hazem el Masri

'El Magic' would routinely drop goals over from the sidelines and broke many points-scoring records- most points in a game (34), most points in a season (342 in 2004), and also topped the points scored record for six seasons! He was born in Lebanon and migrated to Australia as a child. Lamb played 261 games but disqualified himself by playing four seasons with Western Suburbs. Folkes played 269 before becoming a Bulldog's coach and Anderson (230 games) also coached a few teams.

Special mention should be made of the Mortimer family who had four brothers playing NRL. Steve played 272 games, Peter 190, Chris 191 (+59 for Penrith) and Glen played 26 for Cronulla.

Answer: Luke Ricketson

Brass played 142 games for the Tricolours, including two successful Grand Finals. The 1975 result produced a record that stood for many years- the Roosters slaughtered St George 38-0.

'Horrie' Hastings played 239 games, and picked up a swag of Best Player awards, the very prestigious Rothmans Medal in 1981 being well deserved. Fitzgibbon does not qualify as a Loyal Legend, as he played a couple of seasons with Illawarra and St George.

Ricketson was a talented played in many positions, from winger to centres to second row and lock forward. After he retired in 2005, he appeared on the TV reality show 'Dancing with the Stars' where he proved that as a dancer, he was a great footballer- he was eliminated on just his second show.