MUCH has been said this season about Hull KR’s Ryan Hall closing in on Danny McGuire’s place at the top of the all-time Super League try-scoring chart.
As the season kicked off, Hall was seven tries away from equalling McGuire’s total of 247, and eight away from taking the lead outright.
As this issue went to press, Hall was still four short of his former Leeds team-mate’s total, but while the wait goes on for him, others in the game have been creating their own little bits of history and reaching major milestones.
MARC SNEYD
Six goals against Leigh Leopards in March saw Salford Red Devils half-back Marc Sneyd move into fifth place in the list of Super League’s all-time leading goalkickers. Those kicks in the 32-22 home win took Sneyd to 933 conversions and penalties and moved him ahead of Danny Tickle. The majority of these goals, 558, came at Hull FC, with Sneyd adding 100 more in his year on loan at Castleford. The rest have come across his two spells with Salford, where he will no doubt add many more.
STEFAN RATCHFORD
Warrington Wolves stalwart Stefan Ratchford broke a Super League record and equalled a world record in the same afternoon with nine consecutive kicks against London Broncos in March. His eighth of the afternoon saw him surpass Rhyse Martin’s record of 39 consecutive successful goal attempts, while his next saw him equal the world record of 41 held jointly by Martin, Liam Finn and Jamie Ellis. Sadly Ratchford then missed his first kick since the previous August to bring his run to an end.
DANNY HOUGHTON
There might not have been much to celebrate at Hull FC so far this year, but there was a reason for Danny Houghton to smile as he took to the field against Leigh Leopards in March. That game was his 400th Super League appearance, all of which have come for the black and whites since making his first-team debut back in 2007. Adding on Challenge Cup games and the handful of England Knights appearances he’s made, his club and career totals are even higher than this.
MATT PEET
Since taking over at Wigan Warriors in 2022, Matt Peet has guided his side to Challenge Cup success, a League Leaders’ Shield, a Grand Final win and a World Club Challenge crown. Incredibly that final trophy, picked up against Penrith Panthers in February came in Peet’s 66th game in charge. Now we are not saying this is a record for definite, but we certainly can’t think of any other coach who has had quite as much success in such a short period of time as Peet has at the DW Stadium.
CIAN TYRER
In one of the best individual displays of the season so far Oldham’s Cian Tyrer was in scintillating form as his side won 62-0 at Hunslet in April. The 23-year-old scored all of the club’s first six tries, four of them in the first half, to become the first Oldham player since Ike Southward in 1960 to score a double hat-trick in a single game. Had he crossed for one more try, Tyrer would have equalled the club record of seven tries in a game set by James Miller in 1908.
DAVE HEWITT AND JAKE SWEETING
When Midlands Hurricanes beat Newcastle Thunder 70-16 in March, not only did the club post their highest ever score (including in their previous Coventry guise), but half-back Dave Hewitt kicked 11 conversions to break the club record for goals in a game and equalled the record of 22 points in a game. Then just four weeks later, all those records were broken again! Midlands won 72-6 at Cornwall, with Jake Sweeting kicking 12 goals from 12 attempts and scoring 28 points in total.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 496 (May 2024)
Click here to subscribe to the print edition of Rugby League World
