Ben Hornby’s NRL head coaching debut for South Sydney last week entailed a delightful quirk of history, adding to the niche pantheon of rugby league coincidences.
Call it a fluke, happenstance, the stars aligning, or intervention from the mysterious ‘rugby league Gods’, you might dismiss some of the following concurrence of events with a simple shrug – but others are downright spooky.
Johnson & Johnson fullbacks for City and Country
In a unique occurrence, brothers Lin and Dick Johnson were opposing fullbacks in the annual City Firsts v Country Firsts fixture in 1941. Canterbury custodian Lin was in the City side which beat Newcastle-based Dick’s Country outfit 44-21.
Lin played 90 first grade games for the Berries and represented NSW in one match in 1940; Dick played 91 first grade games for Newtown, Souths, Wests and Canterbury, and made 11 appearances for his state from 1938-45.
Newtown dominate landmark scorelines
Before being excluded from the competition at the end of 1983, Newtown was involved in two unique events.
In 1973 Ken Wilson kicked a field goal against St George to secure the premiership’s first-ever 1-0 win for Newtown, while nine years later Wilson captained the Jets as they played out an unprecedented scoreless draw against Canterbury.
Neither scoreline has been repeated since. Remarkably, the club was victorious in the first of just three 2-0 results ever produced, versus Easts in 1914, and the maiden 3-0 outcome against Glebe in 1910, a low-scoring scoreline that has been repeated only five times.
Randwick Rah Rahs reunited in Rooster v Rabbits reserves
Randwick flyhalf Russell Fairfax played eight Tests for the Wallabies from 1971-73 before switching codes to join Easts in 1974.
Ken Wright, another ‘Galloping Greens’ No.10, played nine Tests for the Wallabies from 1975-78 before being lured to the professional code in 1979, also by the Roosters.
Wright and Fairfax were clubmates in 1979-80, playing five-eighth and fullback respectively in the ’80 major semi – Fairfax’s last game for the Tricolours before being released.
Fairfax joined Souths and remarkably came head-to-head with Wright in a reserve grade clash in Round 6 of 1981.
The former Union stars were opposing five-eighths and captains, with Fairfax’s Rabbitohs prevailing 15-13 over Wright’s Roosters. Faifax retired at the end of ’81, while Wright linked with Souths.
ET’s five-try hauls five years apart
Cronulla’s marquee centre Andrew Ettingshausen set a new club record by scoring five tries in the Sharks’ final-round thrashing of Illawarra in 1989 – the first time in 12 years a player had achieved the feat in first grade.
Five years to the day later, the ultra-marketable Test and Origin star produced another five-try haul at South Sydney’s expense to finish off the 1994 regular season.
Just two players had scored five tries in a match in the interceding years, while the mark has only been equalled five times and beaten once in 30 years since.
‘ET’ was also the top try-scorer on the 1990 and ’94 Kangaroo Tours – tallying 15 tries on each trip.
Craig Smiths party like it’s 1999
Melbourne and St George Illawarra fielded identically-named players in the 1999 grand final, with goalkicking winger Craig Smith in the Storm line-up and New Zealand Test prop Craig Smith anchoring the Dragons’ pack.
The namesakes both debuted in 1995, for Norths and Souths respectively.
The Storm’s version of Craig Smith unwittingly etched his name into rugby league folklore when he was awarded a premiership-winning penalty try in the ’99 decider after being felled illegally by Jamie Ainscough in the dying minutes.
The only other player named Craig Smith in premiership history also featured in the 1999 competition, making a solitary appearance for North Queensland.
Broncos’ tryscoring debuts in season-opening derbies
The frequent Round 1 showdowns between Brisbane and North Queensland between 2006 and 2011 paid big dividends for Broncos newcomers.
Darius Boyd scored the Broncos’ only try on debut in a 36-4 loss to the Cowboys in 2006, while wingers Jharal Yow Yeh and Antonio Winterstein dotted down in a 19-18 win in their first NRL outing in 2009 after Boyd joined the Dragons.
It was Matt Gillett’s turn to find the stripe at the Cowboys’ expense in the 2010 season opener in a 30-24 success (with Israel Folau also crossing on club debut), before Jack Reed and Dane Gagai notched first-up tries in a 16-14 defeat in Round 1 of 2011.
Seeing double on Kiwis’ team sheet
Christchurch-born Jeremy Jon Smith was a highly-rated back-rower for Melbourne, St George Illawarra, Cronulla and Newcastle during a 13-season NRL career; Waikato product Jeremy James Smith was a combative halfback for Parramatta and South Sydney in the mid-2000s.
The two Jeremy J. Smiths were selected to make their New Zealand Test debuts in the same match against Australia in 2007, though it was an inauspicious occasion as the Kiwis were dusted by a record 58-0 scoreline by the Cameron Smith-led Kangaroos.
Jeremy James made two more appearances in the black-and-white jumper, while Jeremy Jon finished with 22 Tests to his name.
Deserters Mason and Williams burn Bulldogs
Polarising Test forward Willie Mason’s relationship with the Bulldogs’ hierarchy disintegrated at the end of 2007 and he was granted a release to join archrivals Sydney Roosters.
Mason’s exit strained his relationship with several ex-clubmates – in particular close buddy Sonny Bill Williams, who publicly slammed Mason.
In an ultra-hyped clash early in 2008, Mason scored two tries for the Roosters in a 40-12 thrashing of the Bulldogs; meanwhile, Williams infamously walked out on the Bulldogs a few months later.
SBW returned to the NRL in 2013, also joining the Roosters… and repeated Mason’s insult-to-injury feat by grabbing a double in a 38-0 early-season rout of the Bulldogs.
Cellar dwellers produce matching scorelines
Enduring similarly disastrous campaigns marked by off-field scandal and poor on-field results, the Roosters and Sharks achieved at least one notable feat in 2009 – coming up with the same scoreline in both of their regular season meetings.
The also-rans finished 19-12 in Rounds 8 and 16 with the Roosters prevailing on both occasions, which is even more remarkable given field goals were kicked in just 18 percent of matches that season.
Tricolours backs Sam Perrett and Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored tries in both wins.
The embattled clubs finished equal-bottom with identical 5-19 records, the Sharks avoiding the dreaded wooden spoon thanks to a superior for-and-against.
Mannah witnesses Croker’s milestones
Parramatta prop Tim Mannah and Canberra centre Jarrod Croker were both blooded in early-2009, with Croker scoring his maiden NRL try against Mannah’s Eels in Round 3.
Mannah and Croker were the only survivors of that match – and opposing captains – when Croker notched his 100th try nearly eight years to the day later, in Round 5 of 2017.
The club stalwarts squared off again six weeks later as Croker made his 200th appearance for the Raiders.
Namesakes’ crazy coincidences
This one may freak you out.
In Round 4 of the 2010 season, Will Tupou debuted for the Cowboys in a win over the Titans.
The next day Bill Tupou made his maiden NRL appearance for the Warriors against the Sea Eagles.
The 19-year-olds were born just 18 days apart, both in Auckland, but the similarities did not end there for the rookie flyers – they both finished the year with four tries from 12 first grade appearances.
Bill Tupou ultimately played 76 games for the Warriors and Raiders before heading to Super League in 2015, while Will Tupou switched to rugby union at the end of 2011 after struggling to nail down a regular spot in the Cowboys’ backline.
Immediate Mt Smart déjà vu for Raiders
Last season’s visit to Auckland delivered equally, freakishly similar, heart-breaking results for Canberra’s NSW Cup and NRL sides in the space of a couple of hours.
In the curtain-raiser, Warriors halfback Ronald Volkman slotted a match-winning field goal from 30 metres out through the goalposts at the southern end of Mt Smart Stadium, snatching a 21-20 result for the NSW Cup side.
Later that evening in the NRL clash, after the fast-finishing Raiders had levelled the scores up at the death, another Warriors No.7 – the mercurial Shaun Johnson – drilled a golden point field from virtually the same patch of grass for another 21-20 triumph.
Johnson had also slotted a golden point field goal to sink the Green Machine in Redcliffe in 2022…for a 21-20 win.
Jennings and Xerri return from suspension abyss in same game
In 2020, lightning centres Michael Jennings and Bronson Xerri – separated in age by 12 years – were both slapped with long suspensions by the NRL after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances.
With their bans lapsing, Jennings was snapped up by Sydney Roosters and Xerri received a lifeline from Canterbury ahead of the 2024 season.
Incredibly, their long-awaited returns – which many thought may never come – were in the same game.
Xerri was a late inclusion in the No.19 jersey in the Bulldogs’ centres for the Round 5 clash with the Roosters, for whom Jennings was named 18th man and was activated after a spate of HIAs and slotted into the backline…marking Xerri.
Adding to the uncanny coincidence, when Xerri debuted for Cronulla in 2019, Jennings was in the Parramatta side – with both wearing the No.3 jerseys.
Hornby’s debuts haunted by Geyer-aided Panthers
Wollongong-born Ben Hornby was blooded by St George Illawarra late in the 2000 season, coming off the bench in a 42-12 away loss to Penrith.
Fast forward 24 years, and the Dragons’ 2010 premiership captain took over from the axed Jason Demetriou as South Sydney’s caretaker coach…and suffered a 42-12 loss to the Panthers in his first game.
Here’s the icing on top: Mark Geyer came off the bench for Penrith in the 2000 encounter, while son Mavrik made an interchange appearance for the Panthers in the 2024 fixture.