Gold Coast Titans’ stunning, record-shattering 66-6 win over the highly-rated Warriors last weekend came out of nowhere, reviving memories of some of the most left-field blowout wins the premiership has witnessed.
Check out our list of the unlikeliest demolitions at first-grade level from down the years.
South Sydney 67 defeated Western Suburbs 0 (1910)
Western Suburbs struggled in the NSWRL premiership’s early seasons and South Sydney was among the strongest of the foundation clubs. But the sheer scale of Souths’ 67-0 win over Wests at the Agricultural Ground midway through the competition’s third season took everyone aback.
No team had scored more than 45 points in a match by that stage, but Souths ran in 17 tries with all but two members of the team getting over the line. Bill Fry and gifted five-eighth Arthur McCabe both notched hat-tricks.
Souths ran riot again a week later to demolish North Sydney 53-4, but it would not be until Glebe’s 59-3 win over Norths in 1915 that another club broke a half-century.
The 67-0 result stood as a premiership record until St George crushed newcomer Canterbury-Bankstown 91-6 in 1935, while the 17-try tally remains third-highest in the game’s history.
Western Suburbs Magpies 55 defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 12 (1971)
Western Suburbs’ opening-round destruction of Canterbury in 1971 ultimately created history as the first time a team that finished with the wooden spoon scored more than 50 points in a match.
The Magpies had finished second-last in 1970 while the Berries had reached the finals, which made Wests’ 11-try assault – including a Don Rogers hat-trick and 25 points to Peter Flanders – all the more shocking.
But the Magpies would win just three more of their remaining 21 games and collected their first wooden spoon in 16 years.
Illawarra Steelers 45 defeated Canberra Raiders 0 (1982)
NSWRL expansion clubs Illawarra and Canberra struggled during their 1982 foundation campaign, finishing in the bottom two spots on the ladder and taking some frightful beatings.
The fledgling clubs’ initial meeting seemed likely to provide some respite for both, but it was ultimately a harrowing trip to Wollongong for the Raiders – who had chalked up their maiden win against Newtown a week earlier.
The John Dorahy-led Steelers played like seasoned heavyweights in a 45-0 rout that remained a club record victory until their merger with St George 17 years later, with wingers Peter Kirkland and Lee Promfret both bagging hat-tricks.
The Raiders returned the favour in Canberra with a 26-19 win over the Steelers later that season, but they would have to wait until April 1983 to notch their maiden away victory at Cronulla.
Illawarra Steelers 44 defeated Canterbury Bulldogs 4 (1991)
The Steelers battled throughout much of their first decade, collecting three wooden spoons and finishing higher than 11th just once in their first eight seasons. But the arrival of Graham Murray as coach in 1991 coincided with the club’s rise to credibility.
The scarlet-and-whites’ early-season 44-4 annihilation of a Canterbury side boasting five former or future internationals put the club on the map, with the likes of young guns John Simon and David Riolo starring.
The Bulldogs finished in a playoff for fifth that year and the Steelers eighth, but Murray’s charges stormed to a historic finals appearance in 1992.
Gold Coast Chargers 52 defeated South Queensland Crushers 4 (1996)
Hapless 1988 entrant Gold Coast was already in its third incarnation by the time 1996 rolled around, narrowly avoiding extinction before taking on the Chargers moniker following an ARL bailout.
The club had never previously scored more than 40 points or won by a margin of more than 26, which heralded their 52-4 beatdown of fellow south-east Queensland bottom-three battlers the Crushers a red-letter day.
Lee Oudenryn and Shane Kenward crossed for two tries apiece for the Chargers, while back-rower Brendan Hurst accumulated a club-record-equalling 20 points. The Phil Econimidis-coached Chargers went on to earn a memorable finals appearance in the 1997 ARL competition.
South Queensland Crushers 39 defeated Western Suburbs Magpies 18 (1997)
The scoreline pales in comparison to the others on this list, but the circumstances render this final-round result in the 1997 ARL premiership one of the most remarkable.
The doomed Crushers – already confirmed as back-to-back wooden spooners and playing in what would be the club’s last match – demolished a Western Suburbs side that only needed to win to qualify for the finals.
The 39-18 boilover represented the Crushers’ highest score and biggest winning margin, while Clinton Schifcofske set a new club record with 18 points
Brisbane Broncos 60 North Sydney Bears 6 (1998)
North Sydney’s long-suffering history was peppered with some traumatic beatings, but they were a powerhouse club of the 1990s – a period that included four preliminary final appearances.
However, the 1998 campaign (in which they finished fifth on the ladder) featured the Bears’ highest-ever score conceded, a 60-6 mauling from the brilliant Brisbane Broncos.
The Bears had had the wood on the Broncos – winning five of their previous seven clashes – and would have fancied their chances in Brisbane with four of the hosts’ players backing up from the Anzac Test in Auckland 48 hours earlier.
Instead, the Broncos ran in 11 tries, while the match was a personal triumph for Darren Lockyer, who scored two tries in a 22-point haul after enduring a horror Test debut.
Adelaide Rams 52 defeated Balmain Tigers 0 (1998)
Victims of circumstance during a tumultuous period for the game, Adelaide Rams lasted just two seasons before folding.
Among the Rams’ few highlights was a stunning 52-0 rout of Balmain during the inaugural NRL campaign – the only time the club scored more than 40 points or won a game by more than 28.
Centre Graham Appo, a mid-season pick-up from Canberra, was the star of the show with 24 points from two tries and eight goals, while wingers Matt Daylight and rookie Rod Jensen also collected doubles.
Melbourne Storm 70 defeated St George Illawarra Dragons 10 (2000)
Melbourne endured a gruelling 0-4 start to its premiership defence in 2000, while the club was also reeling from the tragic death in Auckland of popular manager Michael Moore after their Round 1 clash with the Warriors.
The prelude to the much-hyped grand final rematch with St George Illawarra in Round 5 was dominated by Dragons star Anthony Mundine’s inflammatory comments about the Storm’s credentials as champions.
‘The Man’s’ grandstanding backfired horribly as the Storm ran in 12 tries in a staggering 70-10 win at the MCG – the most points scored in a match by any team since 1973.
The result put the Storm’s campaign back on track and they made the finals, while the Dragons missed out as the dealt with the aftermath of Mundine’s shock desertion to pursue a boxing career.
North Queensland Cowboys 50 defeated St George Illawarra Dragons 4 (2000)
Amid a troubled early existence results-wise, North Queensland earned an intriguing niche in premiership history as the only team to score 50 points in a season twice despite finishing last.
The Cowboys’ modest tally of seven wins in 2000 included a 50-10 thrashing of Northern Eagles and a 50-4 rout of St George Illawarra Dragons. The latter result against the 1999 grand finalists was especially eye-catching, with the Saints fielding eight former, current or future internationals.
Penrith Panthers 68 defeated Northern Eagles 28 (2002)
Rarely has a team with so much at stake turned up with such a discretionary attitude towards defence.
Northern Eagles merely needed a win over the 13th-placed Penrith Panthers to finish their failed three-season joint venture experiment on a bright note with a finals appearance, heading into the final round in seventh.
But the Eagles capitulated to the previous season’s wooden spooners in front of their home fans at Brookvale Oval, letting in 12 tries in what at the time was the second-highest-scoring match of all time.
Ryan Girdler broke the Panthers club record with 28 points, while Rhys Wesser and teenaged centre Luke Lewis scored three tries apiece.
Cronulla Sharks 64 defeated Newcastle Knights 14 (2002)
The Round 22 clash at Toyota Park was billed as a Sunday afternoon blockbuster between two premiership hopefuls, headlined by another individual showdown between star halfbacks Brett Kimmorley and Andrew Johns.
But it was all one-way traffic as Cronulla rattled up a 42-0 halftime scoreline on defending champion Newcastle, before easing off somewhat in a 64-14 victory – atoning for a 52-8 loss in the Hunter earlier in the season.
Kimmorley earned rare bragging rights over Johns with a club record 28 points and perfect ‘10’ rating from Rugby League Week magazine, while wing speedster Matthew Rieck scored three of the Sharks’ 11 tries.
At the time it was the most points ever conceded by a reigning premier, a record that would stand for just two years.
Melbourne Storm 66 defeated Penrith Panthers 14 (2004)
Penrith set an unwanted record for the highest score conceded by a defending premier during 2004, leaking 11 tries in a 66-14 loss to Melbourne at Olympic Park.
The absence of four Origin reps, as well as injured linchpin Craig Gower, was little excuse for the Panthers’ capitulation, given the Storm were also without Maroons duo Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.
Slater’s stand-in, former Penrith fringe back Steve Turner, scored three tries in just his eighth NRL game, while Matt Orford slotted 11 goals.
Cronulla Sharks 68 defeated Manly Sea Eagles 6 (2005)
Cronulla finished the 2005 regular season in seventh place and Manly eighth, separated only by for-and-against.
Just a fortnight earlier, though, the teams looked anything but evenly-matched rivals as the Sharks went on a 12-try rampage to inflict the Sea Eagles’ biggest-ever defeat, 68-6.
Cronulla halves Brett Kimmorley and Nigel Vagana both scored three tries, while Luke Covell nailed 10 conversions. The Sharks led by an eye-watering 38-0 at halftime.
Brisbane Broncos 71 defeated Newcastle Knights 6 (2007)
Battling injuries and navigating the retirement of Shane Webcke, Brisbane made a miserable 3-7 start to its premiership defence in 2007.
But after scoring just 22 points in total in their previous three matches, the Broncos returned to form with a 71-6 obliteration of the visiting Newcastle Knights.
Twelve different players scored points in the 12-tries-to-one smacking that remains a club record for both teams.
Sydney Roosters 64 defeated North Queensland Cowboys 30 (2007)
Chris Anderson’s stint at Sydney Roosters in 2007 was a disaster, but there was a notable high point after his team won just three of their first 11 games.
The ailing Tricolours finished on the right side of a 16-try exhibition, beating North Queensland Cowboys 64-30 with rookie winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall scoring a hat-trick.
Anderson fell on his sword after a 56-0 loss to Manly four weeks later, while the Cowboys regrouped to finish third and reach a preliminary final.
Wests Tigers 66 defeated North Queensland Cowboys 18 (2023)
Undoubtedly the greatest day of Wests Tigers’ back-to-back wooden spoons in 2022-23 was their unbelievable 66-18 destruction of the previous year’s preliminary finalists North Queensland Cowboys.
The struggling young Tigers had scored now more than 22 points to that point of the season but ran in 11 tries at Leichhardt Oval against a team with five Origin reps in its starting line-up.
The euphoria was short-lived: the Tigers lost 74-0 in the return clash in Townsville just six weeks later, coach Michael Maguire got the sack and the joint venture won just one more game.
Gold Coast Titans 66 defeated Warriors 6 (2024)
The Titans had never scored more than 44 points in a game before last weekend – just one of several club records to fall in their 66-6 humiliation of a Warriors side that still fancied themselves as a premiership threat.
Leading 30-0 at halftime courtesy of threadbare defence from the visitors, the Titans went on with the job as Jayden Campbell scored a record 26 points and Alofiana Khan-Pereira crossed for a record-equalling four tries – severely denting the hype around the ‘Up the Wahs’ revolution in the process.