Every team has an off day every now and then – and sometimes those 80-minute aberrations earn an unwanted place in the record books.
The NRL’s youngest club suffered one of the biggest defeats in premiership history on Saturday, with the previously in-form Dolphins obliterated 66-0 by Cronulla.
We’ve chronicled the days every NRL outfit would probably prefer to forget.
Brisbane Broncos – 59-0 vs Sydney Roosters (2020)
Less than six months after suffering the heaviest defeat in finals history – a 58-0 loss to Parramatta in a 2019 elimination final – the Broncos pipped their own club record via a 59-0 capitulation to the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.
Fortunately, there were no home fans there to see it – the match was played in the second week after the NRL’s 2020 COVID restart.
It was also the beginning of the end for Anthony Seibold in Brisbane, while the Broncos ultimately won just one of their last 18 games on the way to a historic wooden spoon.
Canberra Raiders – 68-4 vs Melbourne (2013)
The Raiders were in a share of fifth spot heading into their Round 21 road trip in Melbourne, but the worst defeat in the club’s history set in motion a six-match losing streak to finish the season that would result in coach David Furner’s axing.
Melbourne held a 6-4 lead after 14 minutes but had romped to a 32-4 scoreline by halftime. The Storm’s back-five scored 10 tries between them, including hat-tricks to wingers Sisa Waqa and Mahe Fonua.
The result knocked Canberra’s debut-season loss to Parramatta (54-3) in 1982 off top spot in the club’s record books.
Canterbury Bulldogs – 91-6 vs St George (1935)
Canterbury-Bankstown famously suffered the two worst losses in premiership history in consecutive weeks during its 1935 foundation campaign.
In Round 5 at Earl Park, St George ran in an eye-watering 19 tries in a 91-6 win, featuring an unprecedented 36-point haul by Les Griffin. Eastern Suburbs carved out an 87-7 victory seven days later at the Sydney Sports Ground with Dave Brown scored an as-yet unmatched 45 points.
The Bulldogs’ biggest losses since that hapless introduction to first grade were twin 66-0 losses to Manly in 2021 and Newcastle in 2023.
Cronulla Sharks – 74-4 vs Parramatta (2003)
After featuring in a Super League grand final and four preliminary finals in the previous seven seasons, a fruitful Sharks era officially bottomed out in late-2003 courtesy of what was then the third-worst defeat of all time.
The Sharks actually led fellow also-rans the Eels 4-0 after 22 minutes, before spiralling to a 24-4 halftime deficit. Worse was to come as the blue-and-golds piled on another 10 tries and 50 points in the second stanza, centre Jamie Lyon finishing with five.
Cronulla skipper David Peachey was sent off for dissent early in the second half, while teammate Dale Newton followed him for a high tackle – perhaps explaining the threadbare defensive effort.
Dolphins – 66-0 vs Cronulla (2026)
Only a couple of weeks removed from an eight-match winning streak, the Dolphins were held try-less for the first time in their four-season history last Saturday.
The defeat at Kayo Stadium in Redcliffe to a rampant Sharks outfit – for whom Nicho Hynes scored a club record 30 points – was the equal-eighth-biggest in premiership history, while it equalled the heaviest loss ever incurred by a team at home.
Gold Coast Titans – 54-0 vs Brisbane (2017)
For a team that has endured some low points in a two-decade tenure in the NRL, the Titans’ biggest loss record is surprisingly modest. The 54-0 home defeat to ‘big brother’ Brisbane came less than a year after the clubs faced off in an elimination final. Ben Hunt scored three tries off the bench.
The Titans have conceded more than 54 points on another four occasions but managed to post enough points themselves to avoid a heavier loss.
The original incarnation of the Gold Coast club’s biggest loss was a 62-6 result against Melbourne in 1998.
Manly Sea Eagles – 68-6 vs Cronulla (2005)
Manly set a dubious premiership record for the biggest loss by a club that went on to feature in the finals, inexplicably crashing 68-6 to Cronulla at Toyota Park in Round 24 of the 2005 season.
The Sea Eagles harrowing defeat pipped their 72-12 loss to Penrith the previous season and remains just one of three 50-plus losses in the club’s 80-year history (they also went down 61-11 to St George in their 1947 foundation campaign).
Melbourne Storm – 50-4 vs St George Illawarra (2000); 50-4 vs Bulldogs (2003)
Unsurprisingly, the Storm’s biggest loss is the smallest of any current club in the NRL. The defending premiers’ 50-4 loss to the Dragons in Wollongong in 2000 came just three months after thrashing the Saints 70-10 at the MCG (see St George Illawarra’s worst defeat).
Melbourne’s 50-4 defeat to the Bulldogs in 2003 was their only loss in the last seven rounds and came only five weeks before the clubs faced off in a semi-final (which the Bulldogs won 30-0).
Newcastle – 71-6 vs Brisbane (2007)
The Knights were a respectable 5-4 heading into the Round 11 road trip to Brisbane – encouraging given they had lost the incomparable Andrew Johns to a career-ending neck injury earlier in 2007.
The Broncos, meanwhile, were in the midst of a difficult title defence, winning just three of their first 10 games.
The superstar-laden Broncos built a 25-6 halftime lead before putting on the afterburners, running in eight second-half tries to become only the eighth team ever to reach 70 points in a first grade match.
North Queensland Cowboys – 66-4 vs Canterbury (1995); 62-0 vs North Sydney (1998); 62-0 vs Parramatta (2001)
The Cowboys suffered a trio of 62-point losses during their first seven seasons in the premiership.
The Bulldogs farewelled Terry Lamb from Belmore Oval with a 66-4 rout of the Bulldogs in the final round of 1995 (Lamb would come out of retirement for one more season), while visits to North Sydney Oval in 1998 and Parramatta Stadium in 2001 incurred 62-0 defeats.
The Cowboys’ next three biggest losses were during their first four campaigns: 66-10 to Canberra in 1996, 60-6 to Norths in 1995 and 58-4 to Brisbane in 1998.
Parramatta Eels – 68-0 vs Canberra (1993)
A match equally remembered for Ricky Stuart’s broken ankle that derailed Canberra’s premiership bid, Parramatta’s 68-0 loss at Bruce Stadium in late-1993 was the biggest margin in a first-grade match after Canterbury’s twin 1935 floggings (see above) and has been bettered just twice since.
The Raiders piled on 12 tries – seven in the second half – in what would be Mick Cronin’s second-last game as Eels coach.
Penrith Panthers – 70-7 vs Manly (1973)
In 1973, Penrith became the only team to concede 70 points in a game after Canterbury’s back-to-back beatdowns 38 years earlier. It would take another 27 years for it to happen again.
Manly decimated the hapless Panthers at Penrith Park, with Johnny Mayes scoring four of their 14 tries and Graham Eadie kicking 14 goals – one off the premiership record.
If tries had been worth four points, the final score would have read 84-8.
South Sydney Rabbitohs – 66-0 vs Warriors (2006)
On their way to a third wooden spoon in four seasons, Souths set a premiership record for the biggest loss by a home team when the visiting Warriors racked up a 66-0 win at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Lance Hohaia scored three of the Warriors’ 12 tries off the bench in the Round 16 encounter.
Originally signed as his assistant, Jason Taylor replaced Shaun McRae as Rabbitohs coach at the end of a year that garnered just three wins.
St George Illawarra – 70-10 vs Melbourne (2000)
Perhaps the most ill-fated pre-game trash talk in premiership history led to arguably the most notorious grand final rematch in the competition’s history.
Melbourne’s title defence had started with four straight losses, prompting motor-mouthed St George Illawarra playmaker Anthony Mundine to label the Storm “nothing but pretenders”.
The Strom proceeded to become the first team to score 70 points since 1973, obliterating the Dragons at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Saints trailed 42-4 by halftime, while the performance was personified by Nathan Brown throwing a pass into the head of Lance Thompson, who had tripped over.
Sydney Roosters – 66-4 vs Canberra (1990)
Eastern Suburbs sunk to the worst defeat by a first-grade team in 17 years in 1990, lapped 66-4 by Canberra at Bruce Stadium.
The Roosters were helpless to stop the defending premiers, who led 26-0 at halftime and went for the jugular after the break. Mal Meninga was the chief destroyer, scoring five tries and 38 points – the equal-second-highest tally of all time.
Legend has it Easts coach Russell Fairfax – who would be punted three months later – made his team watch a tape of the game on the bus back from Canberra. The players erupted with laughter when their only try, by winger Tim Dwyer, showed a clear knock-on.
Warriors – 70-10 vs Melbourne (2022); 66-6 vs Gold Coast (2024)
In the final season of their three-year struggle stranded in Australia by COVID, the Warriors hit a difficult low point courtesy of a 70-10 Anzac Day loss to the Storm.
Young winger Ed Kosi had a nightmare outing in the 13-try annihilation, with opposite number Xavier Coates crossing four times. Amazingly, the Storm led just 16-10 at halftime before adding 10 tries in the second stanza.
More inexplicably, the Andrew Webster-coached Warriors equalled their club record via 66-6 loss on the Gold Coast in 2024 to a Titans side that was running last.
Wests Tigers – 74-0 vs North Queensland (2023)
Just six weeks after the euphoria of a 66-18 win over the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval, the Tigers sunk to the third-worst loss in premiership history in the clubs’ return clash in Townsville.
The Tigers trailed 42-0 at halftime and conceded 13 tries all told, while Valentine Holmes racked up 30 points.
The jarring result was another nail in the coffin of Tim Sheens’ ill-fated return to the joint venture as head coach.