The 2023 NRL premiership has been a banner year for goalkicking, with goals being landed at 77.6 percent across the board.
Eight regular kickers (20-plus goals) are landing their attempts at better than 80 percent, with a couple of the craft’s true greats – Nathan Cleary and Jarrod Croker – leading the way.
At this juncture, we’re revealing the players who boast career strike-rates of better than 80 percent (minimum 100 goals) since records started being compiled in 1986.
Nathan Cleary (549 goals @ 84.33%)
As well as developing into potentially the dominant player of his generation, Cleary is arguably the greatest goalkicking exponent the premiership has ever seen.
The Penrith linchipin passed the 500-goal milestone in first grade earlier this season and his 84.33 career percentage is comfortably the highest of any player in the competition’s history.
The son of former Manly, Norths, Sydney City and Warriors sharpshooter Ivan – who booted 553 goals at 76.7 percent from 1993-2002 – Nathan’s mastery from the tee was immediately apparent,
He kicked at over 80 percent in his 2016 rookie year and becoming just the fifth player to break the mystical 90 percent barrier in a season in 2017. Cleary has landed goals at better than 85 percent in four of the past five NRL seasons and leads the way in the 2023, slotting 50 from 58 attempts (86.21%).
Aidan Sezer (179 goals at 82.11%)
Largely overlooked in the pantheon of NRL marksmen, Sezer was supremely accurate in four seasons for Gold Coast but was the game’s best-credentialled back-up during his tenure at Canberra due to the presence of Jarrod Croker.
The classy half debuted in 2012 and kicked 105 of 123 attempts during his first three seasons for the Titans – a magnificent strike-rate of 85.37 percent.
Sezer kicked only 23 goals in four years with the Raiders – and none during the club’s 2019 grand final season, his last before joining Super League outfit Huddersfield.
Adam Reynolds (991 goals @ 82.04%)
On the verge of becoming just the second player in premiership history to kick 1,000 goals in first grade, Reynolds remains the benchmark more than 11 years after making his debut for South Sydney in 2012.
Reynolds kicked at over 85 percent in his rookie year, broke the 90 percent barrier in racking up a century of goals in 2013, and has had another five seasons since for the Rabbitohs and Broncos where he’s finished the year at better than 80 percent.
Hazem El Masri (891 goals @ 81.97%)
El Masri only took on the goalkicking duties in his sixth season of first grade at the Bulldogs, taking over from arguably the greatest of all time, Daryl Halligan, and surpassing many of his predecessor’s achievements.
The popular winger smashed the all-time pointscoring record (159 tries helped him to a tally of 2,418 career points), while he set a new record for most goals (129 at 86%) and points (294) in a season in 2003 and broke both in 2004 (139 goals at 83.23% and 342 points).
El Masri went better than 80 percent in seven of his nine seasons as a fulltime goalkicker, while he also holds the record for most consecutive goals in NRL history with 35 in 2003 and managed other streaks of 31 and 29.
Luke Walsh (154 goals at 81.48%)
Something of a surprise entry in this list of the NRL’s sharpest shooters, Walsh was only a first-choice goalkicker for two seasons – and his early efforts were underwhelming.
The halfback debuted for Newcastle in 2007 and became a regular for Penrith in 2009, kicking 15 goals from 22 attempts – a modest 68 percent – in the latter season as a fill-in for Michael Gordon.
But in 2011 he managed 19 from 23 before taking the reins at the Panthers the following season with Gordon departing. Walsh slotted 74 goals at an elite 86 percent in 2013, including 11 from 11 in a rout of the Warriors.
He ventured to Super League in 2014 and landed almost 300 goals in four seasons at St Helens and Catalans.
James Maloney (772 goals @ 81.18%)
One of the NRL era’s great clutch players, dual premiership-winner Maloney developed into one of the game’s premier goalkickers. He kicked a then-record 222 goals in three seasons for the Warriors at a decent 75 percent – then went below 82 percent in a year just once for the rest of his NRL tenure.
Maloney joined Sydney Roosters in 2013 and landed more than 100 goals in three straight seasons for the club at the outstanding overall percentage of 84.43, while he kicked at a career-best 87.65 percent for Cronulla in 2017.
Relegated to a deputy role behind Nathan Cleary at Penrith, Maloney nevertheless slotted 67 goals at 86.67 percent during two seasons at the foot of the mountains before heading to Super League. Only 11 players have kicked more goals in the Australian premiership than the much-admired Maloney.
Michael Gordon (681 goals @ 81.17%)
Versatile back Gordon slotted goals at a consistently top-shelf strike-rate for five clubs in a 14-year NRL career, but his greatest legacy as a kicker is producing the highest season percentage by any player in premiership history.
Debuting for Penrith in 2006, Gordon booted 57 goals from 61 attempts in 2009 – a phenomenal success rate of 93.44 percent. He kicked at a shade under 87 percent in 2013, his first year at Cronulla, and never sunk below 78 percent in stints with the Sharks, Eels, Roosters and Titans.
Michael Witt (258 goals 80.88%)
Witt was a handy five-eighth and solid goalkicker at Parramatta and Manly – without full establishing his spot at either club – but he produced the best footy of his career and created history off the tee during two seasons with the Warriors.
Arriving in Auckland as a 75 percent NRL kicker, Witt helped the Warriors to a top-four finish in 2007 with 62 goals at a then-record 92.54 percent. Amazingly, he only took the reins when centre Tony Martin (who kicked at 73.58% in his career) broke down with injury mid-season.
Witt, most famous for his memorable match-winning try in the Warriors’ qualifying boilover against the Storm in 2008, kicked at 83 percent that year but was let go early the following season. He had subsequent stints with Otago rugby union, Celtic Crusaders, London Broncos and St George Illawarra.
Jarrod Croker (909 goals @ 80.48%)
Third on the premiership’s all-time pointscoring register with 2,358, Croker only took up the goalkicking duties in his second season at Canberra. That 2010 season was unfortunately remembered for a crucial penalty goal miss in a semi-final against Wests Tigers, but he kicked at over 84 percent.
The consistent centre kicked at better than 84 percent in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Though injury restricted him to just 12 games in 2021, he slotted 38 goals from 41 attempts (92.68%) and has returned with radar-like accuracy (after-the-siren attempts at Mt Smart Stadium notwithstanding) in 2023, humming along at 85.48 percent at present.
Matthew Ridge (580 goals @ 80.22%)
Former All Black Ridge changed the way rugby league clubs thought about goalkickers, blazing a trail for the influx of New Zealand rugby union converts and becoming the first player to retire with a career percentage above 80 percent (minimum 100 goals).
As well as adjusting phenomenally quickly to his fullback role at Manly after being lured across by coach Graham Lowe, Ridge captured the imagination of the premiership fanbase and pre-empted the likes of Frano Botica, John Schuster, Daryl Halligan and Eoin Crossan switching codes.
In his second campaign for the Sea Eagles, Ridge kicked 79 goals at an unprecedented 82.29 percent. After a dip in the following two seasons (though still well above his contemporaries), the abrasive, brilliant custodian kicked at better than 80 percent for the last six seasons of his career.
Though his three seasons at the Warriors were plagued by injury and suspension, the Kiwi Test captain landed 103 goals at over 83 percent – including a career-high 87.18 percent in 1999, his last campaign before prematurely hanging up the boots.
Honourable mentions
Regarded by many as the best ever, ex-Waikato rugby union superboot Daryl Halligan was the first player to break the 2,000-point barrier. A couple of less impressive seasons percentage was left him with a career strike-rate of 79.31, but his last three campaigns for the Bulldogs garnered 295 goals at 86.51 percent.
Another of the most revered marksman from the first golden era of round-the-corner goalkicking, the 1990s, Jason Taylor broke Halligan’s pointscoring record and his mark of 942 goals stood until 2017. His career percentage was a touch over 75 percent – excellent for his era.
Ryan Girdler kicked 624 goals for Illawarra and Penrith at a modest 71.81 percent and even had three seasons in the low-to-mid 60s in the early-2000s. But he deserves mention here for shattering the all-time record with 76 goals from 82 attempts (92.68 percent) during the 1997 Super League season.
Finishing with a career percentage of 79.5 percent – putting him 11th of all time among players with 100-plus goals in first grade – Johnathan Thurston kicked 923 goals for the Cowboys
Cameron Smith is more than 300 goals ahead of his nearest competitor in premiership history with 1,295 for Melbourne from 2002-20. His overall percentage of 75.29 percent is impressive enough over such a long period, but he improved markedly and kicked at a career-best 84.31 percent in his last season.