Five NRL players set join the elite 300-match club in season 2018

THERE’S still some real magic attached to a player breaking the 300 game barrier. Of the thousands of players to pull on the boots since 1908, only 28 have made it. In 2018 there are five players who could pass the mark.

These players are a chance of joining the elite 300 club in 2018.

THERE’S still some real magic attached to a player breaking the 300-game barrier.

Of the thousands of players to pull on the boots since 1908, only 28 have made it.

In 2018 there are five players who could pass the mark.

Johnathan Thurston (299 games)

Thurston’s 300th match has been on ice for some time due to the shoulder injury which sidelined up for the back half of 2016. After making his debut for Canterbury in 2002, Thurston played 29 matches in blue and white before heading to North Queensland.

Johnathan Thurston will pick up his 300th match in round one.

With 270 games under his belt he’s already the most capped player in club history and if he plays on in 2019 he’s a chance of playing 300 games for the club. With 37 Tests and 39 Origin games under his belt, as well as six appearances for the indigenous All Stars, Thurston has 381 games to his credit, behind only Cameron Smith in terms of active players.

Billy Slater (299 games)

Billy Slater would have been forgiven for thinking his 300th game would never come. Injuries threatened to end his career in 2015 and 2016 before he returned with a vengeance this time around, scorching back to the top of rugby league and reclaiming his place as Queensland and Australian fullback.

Billy Slater’s 300-match milestone has been on ice for two years.

A grand final rematch with the two legends playing their 300th games against one another would have been something right out of a fantasy, but Slater will instead travel to Perth for the season opener to play against Canterbury.

John Sutton (283 games)

It’s surprising to learn that South Sydney, the oldest first grade team still in existence, have never had a 300 gamer. It’s even more surprising to learn they’ve only ever had five 200 gamers. Of those five, two played this century and having surpassed Nathan Merritt several seasons ago, John Sutton will become South Sydney’s first 300 gamer midway through this season.

John Sutton is ready to do what no other Rabbitohs player has done before.

Since debuting in 2004 Sutton has been a fine servant for the club, switching from second row to five eighth and back again many times. He captained the team to the 2014 premiership and has secured a one-year contract extension with a view to making that 300 game barrier.

Simon Mannering (280 games)

The Warriors natural state is one of chaos. Since he debuts in 2005, Mannering has been one of the lone constants and the hardworking backrower is poised to become the first Warriors player and the second New Zealander, after Ruben Wiki, to bring up the 300. He’d also be just the 12th (assuming Sutton beats him to it) player to play 300 games for a single club.

Simon Mannering has been a mainstay of the Warriors for years.

Sam Thaiday (279 games)

Darren Lockyer’s 355 matches for Brisbane is a record that might never be broken but durable forward Sam Thaiday is poised to join Lockyer and another former teammate Corey Parker as the only Broncos to play 300 matches.

If he stays injury-free and in decent enough form to warrant selection Sam Thaiday will tip 300 matches.

Thaiday is one of 13 Broncos players to appear in 200 matches for the club, an extremely high number considering the club has only been around for 30 years. Along with Darius Boyd, Thaiday is one of the last survivors from the 2006 premiership side and if he does hang up the boots at the end of 2018 he can do so confident in the knowledge he is a Broncos legend.