On this day, the SCG hosts rugby league for the first time, Phil Duke plays Origin for the first and last time, and Benji Marshall gets across the line four times.
1911
Rugby League is played on the Sydney Cricket Ground for the first time. New South Wales and New Zealand meet at the SCG before 46,000 fans on King George V’s Coronation Day.
1982
The Maroons secure victory 10-5 in game three of the Origin series at the SCG. It's the first time a three-game series was played after one-off games in 1980 and 1981. The game is probably best remembered for a horror moment for Blues winger Phil Duke. Playing in his first and last Origin, the Moree Boomerangs winger spilled a pass from fullback Phil Sigsworth in the in-goal area and Wally Lewis pounced to score the match-winning try.
1985
Former Warrior Thomas Leuluai was born on this day in 1985. Leulaui played 85 games for the Warriors across two stints (2003-04 and 2013-16) but it's in England where he has racked up big numbers for Wigan, playing 323 games and playing in two winning grand finals (2010 and 2018) and the 2020 side which lost the decider to St Helens. In 2022 he came off the bench in the Challenge Cup final victory over Huddersfield. He also played 40 Tests for New Zealand and was hooker in the historic 2008 World Cup final at Suncorp Stadium where the Kiwis upset the Kangaroos 34-20.
2003
Wests Tigers unearth a future champion in schoolboy five-eighth Benji Marshall. The youngster from Brisbane scores four tries in an under-19s game against the Roosters. Two years later Benji was leading Wests Tigers to their maiden premiership with the audacious flick pass for Pat Richards to score one of the most replayed grand final tries in recent memory.
2016
Playing in just his third State of Origin game, Dane Gagai helps himself to a hat-trick as the Maroons win game two 26-16 at Suncorp Stadium. Gagai had scored in his debut game in 2015 and again in the 2016 series opener so his record after this game stood five tries from three Origins. The Maroons' victory secured back-to-back series wins, quickly erasing the memory of having their dynasty ended in 2014.
2021
The Broncos appoint former premiership winner Ben Ikin as head of football.
This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton.
