TOP 10 POINTSCORERS OF THE CENTURY 1908-2007

Andrew Johns ©Action Photographics

1. Andrew Johns 2,176 1993-2007
Acclaimed as the halfback of the century and the greatest player of the last 30 years, Johns was also the most prolific accumulator of points in the game’s first century. He was only the third player to break through the 2,000 points barrier and became the highest scorer in 100 years when he passed Jason Taylor’s record in 2006.

2. Jason Taylor 2,107 1990-2001
Taylor combined persistence, accuracy and durability to end his career at the top of the pointscoring Everest. He kicked more goals than any other player in 100 years of premiership rugby league and held the pointscoring record for five years until it was surpassed by Johns.

3. Hazem El Masri 2,040 1996-2007
By the end of the code’s first century in Australia, El Masri was only 136 points behind Andrew Johns as the game’s most prolific scorer. Incredibly, El Masri kicked only seldomly for the first five years of his top grade career, assuming the job from Daryl Halligan in 2000. He is acclaimed as the most accurate kicker in the game’s history.

4. Daryl Halligan 2,034 1991-2000
Halligan raised the goalkicking bar throughout the 1990s for his ability to kick high-pressure goals and accumulate huge points tallies in a high-achieving Canterbury team. He became the first player to break the 2000 points barrier shortly before his retirement in 2000.

5. Mick Cronin 1,971 1977 1986
Cronin came to the Sydney premiership late, denying himself the opportunity to establish a scoring record that may never have been broken. As it was, Cronin averaged almost 200 points per season for 10 years and retired in 1986 as the all-time record holder. His mark stood for 14 years.

6. Graham Eadie 1,917 1971-1983
In a Manly side that was invariably among the competition front-runners, fullback Graham Eadie had plenty of opportunity to accumulate points. His best effort was 14 goals (28 points) in one game against Penrith in 1973. Eadie held the all-time record from 1983 until 1985, when Parrramatta’s Cronin took over.

7. Eric Simms 1,841 1965-1975
In the era of leather footballs and on grounds that were often quagmires, Simms vied with Keith Barnes and Graeme Langlaands as the most gifted goalkickers of a generation. He held records for most points in a season and most career points and remains the highest pointscorer in the history of South Sydney.

8. Ryan Girdler 1,690 1991-2004
A talented centre whose career began at Illawarra and later flourished at Penrith, Girdler climbed into the all-time top 10 in the final years of his career with the Panthers. Apart from his high-scoring deeds at premiership level he also performed some remarkable feats at representative level, like 32 points in a State of Origin match and 46 points in a World Cup match for Australia.

9. Clinton Schifcofske 1,604 1996-2006
In 11 years of premiership football Schifcofske worked tirelessly to perfect his goalkicking technique and proved himself a match-winner with Parramatta and Canberra in the last decade of the game’s first 100 years.

10. Graeme Langlands 1,554 1963-1976
Langlands comes in at 10th on the list of top pointscorers of the century despite being a part-time goalkicker for a number of seasons during his illustrious career with the Dragons. Dennis Preston, Brian Graham and Henry Tatana were all preferred as number one goalkicker during the Langlands era.