Canterbury’s blistering start to 2025 NRL season came to a grinding halt courtesy of a heavy defeat in Brisbane last week, denying the Bulldogs an outright club record for their best-ever winning start to a season.
Where did the Bulldogs’ 6-0 effort rank alongside each club’s best start? We’ve pored through the premiership annals to find out.
Brisbane Broncos – 8 wins (1996)
No strangers to an early-season streak – they won the first six games of their 1988 foundation season – the Broncos were unstoppable to kick off 1996 after forfeiting their Round 1 match against Auckland Warriors due to the Super League stand-off.
The Broncos passed 50 points in wins over Illawarra, North Queensland and Canberra in winning their first eight games, before a 16-10 loss to Norths slowed their roll. The Broncos finished second on the ladder but went out in the finals in straight sets.
The Broncos went unbeaten in their first nine games of 2002, which included a draw.
Canberra Raiders – 9 wins (1995)
Defending premiers heading into the expanded 20-team competition in 1995, the Raiders won their first nine games. Four of their victories were against eventual finalists, perhaps most memorably a 26-0 shutout of a stacked Broncos side that featured Brett Mullins’ iconic double chip-and-chase try.
A top-of-the-table clash with Manly (see below) brought about the Green Machine’s first defeat, 16-8 at Bruce Stadium. The Raiders were edged by the Sea Eagles for the minor premiership on points differential before being rolled by the Bulldogs at the preliminary final stage.
Canterbury Bulldogs – 6 wins (twice – 1938, 2025)
Canterbury-Bankstown’s surge to the 1938 premiership – just the club’s fourth season – featured only one defeat and began with a 6-0 streak to start the campaign. The Alan Brady-led side drew their seventh game and did not suffer a loss until Round 11.
This year’s Bulldogs vintage matched that 6-0 performance while conceding less than 10 points per game – including shutouts of Newcastle and Souths in the last two. But a 46-18 defeat to the Broncos in Round 7 brought the run to an end in jarring fashion.
Cronulla Sharks – 7 wins (1978)
The Sharks’ 1978 grand final season featured a rousing 7-0 start, including the scalps of the previous year’s grand finalists, St George and Parramatta. The club’s bid for a maiden title was ultimately thwarted in a grand final replay by Manly.
Cronulla went one win within equally that record on its way to the 1999 minor premiership, chalking up six straight.
Dolphins – 3 wins (2023)
In one of the most impressive starts to life in the premiership of any club, the Dolphins stunned heavyweights Sydney Roosters 28-18 on premiership debut and backed that up with wins over Canberra and Newcastle before a gallant Round 4 loss to Brisbane.
The newcomers began 2024 and ’25 with a loss.
Gold Coast Titans – 3 wins (2010)
Predominantly slow out of the blocks in their 19 NRL seasons to date, the Titans set sail for a second straight finals appearance in 2010 with a 3-0 start – putting away 2009 also-rans the Warriors, Souths and Canberra.
Manly Sea Eagles – 15 wins (1995)
Bob Fulton’s Sea Eagles broke the premiership record for the longest winning streak to start a season in 1995, going 15-0. They surged into title favouritism with authoritative victories over fellow heavyweights Canberra and Brisbane.
The historic run was halted by also-rans Sydney City in controversial circumstances in Round 16. Manly went on to claim the minor premiership but was the victim of one of the biggest grand final boilovers ever against the Bulldogs.
Melbourne Storm – 9 wins (2012)
No strangers to a lengthy winning streak at the start of the season under Craig Bellamy, the Storm’s best effort was going 9-0 in 2012.
The run included a 2011 prelim revenge win over the Warriors and a defeat of eventual minor premiers the Bulldogs, who the Storm would go on to beat in the 2012 grand final.
Newcastle Knights – 9 wins (1995)
The Knights were one of several clubs to go on a lengthy winning run to kick off the expanded 1995 premiership, winning their first nine games – though none was against a team that had played in the ’94 finals. They eventually finished fifth and bowed out to Manly at the preliminary final stage.
Ironically, their best start since 2002 – 4-0 in 2015 – marked the beginning of three straight wooden spoon seasons.
New Zealand Warriors – 5 wins (2018)
Sporting a terrible Round 1 record for most of their history, the Warriors only won their first two games twice in their first 23 seasons.
But a watershed 2018 effort saw the Warriors go 5-0, beginning with a long-awaited maiden win in Perth against Souths and including the scalps of Sydney Roosters and 2017 grand finalists North Queensland. They are yet to win more than their first game in any campaign since.
North Queensland Cowboys – 6 wins (2006)
Flying starts haven’t exactly been the Cowboys’ strong suit – they went 0-3 in the their 2015 premiership season – but the club won its first six games in 2006 on the back of reaching the grand final the previous season.
The Johanthan Thurston-inspired team took out big guns Brisbane, Melbourne, Parramatta and, in a top-of-the-table Round 6 clash, Newcastle. But amazingly, the Cowboys would only win five more games and miss the finals by a mile.
Parramatta Eels – 5 wins (1983, 1986)
A modest record for such a long-standing club, Parramatta went 5-0 in their 1983 and 1986 premiership-winning seasons.
A 4-0 start on their way to the 2021 grand final was the Eels’ best since 1989.
Penrith Panthers – 12 wins (2021)
The Panthers demolished their club record with a 12-0 start in 2021 on the back of their grand final appearance the previous year.
They duly went on to finish the regular season in second and end an 18-year title drought by beating Souths in the grand final. The club’s premiership defence began with an 8-0 start.
St George Illawarra Dragons – 6 wins (2018)
Seemingly allergic to stringing wins together at the start of the season, the joint venture was the last team to lose in 2018 – carving out a 6-0 start before being rolled by the Warriors. They went on to finish seventh and reach week two of the finals.
St George’s 11-year premiership streak featured an unbeaten season in 1959, starting 10-0 before drawing with Balmain. Illawarra won its first two games just once in 17 seasons (1993 and 1997).
South Sydney Rabbitohs – 13 wins (1925)
Souths kicked off a run of five straight titles in 1925 with a perfect season, winning all 13 games in a first-past-the-post premiership. The winning streak ended at 16 early the following season.
A 5-0 start in 2013 is their best in the past 54 seasons.
Sydney Roosters – 10 wins (1996)
The Roosters’ path to ending a nine-year finals drought in 1996 got underway via 10 consecutive wins – a feat even the club’s 1935-37 and 1974-75 dynasties didn’t get close to matching.
It’s worth noting their only win over a team that went on to make the Top 8 was against the eighth-placed Magpies. The Roosters finished fourth but exited the finals in straight sets.
Wests Tigers – 2 wins (six times – 2002, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)
The Tigers’ largely tortured history has been plagued by overwhelmingly poor starts, never winning more than their first two games in 26 seasons.
The first occasion they went back-to-back was arguably the most notable, knocking over the previous season’s top-two regular-season finishers – the Bulldogs and Parramatta – in the first two rounds in 2002.