August 24: JT's Townsville swan song; Norm and Arthur's iconic shot
On this day, a famous rugby league photo was taken, the Magpies celebrated 25 years at Campbelltown and Johnathan Thurston played his last home game in Townsville.
1963
St George march on, winning their eighth consecutive premiership. On an SCG mudheap, Saints beat Wests for the third successive year, winning 8-3 in controversial circumstances. Johnny King’s match-winning try is hotly contested. The victory over Wests is immortalised by photographer John O’Gready, who shoots the famous “Gladiators” photo of rival captains Norm Provan and Arthur Summons.
King scores in the Grand Final
1986
Gould puts Baker into a gap
1990
Hasler, Liddiard and Williams produce classic
2003
Warriors winger Francis Meli and prop Richard Villasanti figure in some of the most brutal defence of the season in their team’s 22-14 defeat of Brisbane at Ericsson Stadium. Two players from each side are sin-binned after a wild brawl late in the first half. The Warriors lose five-eighth Lance Hohaia for the season with a ruptured cruciate ligament.
2012
The Western Suburbs Magpies celebrate the 25th anniversary of their move to Campbelltown by naming a team of the era at a gala dinner. The team was: Brett Hodgson; Darren Willis, Chris Lawrence, Andrew Farrar, Graham Mackay; Benji Marshall, Jason Taylor; John Skandalis, Robbie Farah, Bryce Gibbs, Gareth Ellis, Liam Fulton, Bob Lindner. Reserves: Trevor Cogger, Paul Langmack, Steve Georgallis, David Gillespie. Coach: Tim Sheens.
2013
Rookie halfback Luke Brooks produces a dream debut for Wests Tigers, scoring a try, creating two others and claiming man of the match honours in his team’s 34-18 victory over St George Illawarra at Sydney Cricket Ground. The two clubs meet 50 years to the day after St George played Wests in a famous grand final at the same venue.
2017
Parramatta winger Kirisome Auva’a scores the fastest try in NRL history, crossing the line against Brisbane inside 13 seconds at Suncorp Stadium.
2018
A sold-out crowd of 25,095 swarms to 1300SMILES Stadium in Townsville to pay tribute to Cowboys legend Johnathan Thurston in his final home game. The Cowboys respond with their most dominant performance of the season to crush Parramatta 44-6.
2020
Long-serving Sydney Roosters second-rower Mitch Aubusson announces that he will retire at the end of the season.
This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton.
