RUGBY LEAGUE’S GREATEST TEAMS
BALMAIN 1915-1920: Five premierships, Win rate – 79 per cent (65 from 82)
Led by attacking weapons Charles Fraser and Arthur Halloway, Balmain enjoyed the game’s first great dynasty with five titles in six years. The streak began with the competition’s first undefeated season in 1915 before backing it up with titles in 1916, 1917, 1919 and 1920. So good were they during the period of the great war and immediately after, they lost just 12 matches in the six-year stint.
SOUTH SYDNEY 1923-1932: Seven premierships, Win rate – 79 per cent (124 from 157)
The 1950s are considered as South Sydney’s golden era but it was between the wars they earned their mantle as “The Pride of the League”. Runners-up in 1923 and 1924, they won seven of the next eight premierships on the back of try-scoring machine Benny Wearing and second-rower George Treweek. Five-eighth Alf Blair was also a star, scoring a hat-trick in the 1929 decider against Newtown as the Bunnies became the first to win five-straight premierships.
ST GEORGE 1956-1966: 11 premierships, Win rate – 82 per cent (183 wins from 222 games)
Dominated the league with 11 premierships in a row, and barely gave any opponents a chance as they conceded just five tries in all those deciders. Immortal Norm Provan led the way by playing in 10 of those premierships while Graeme Langlands, Reg Gasnier and John Raper were among the great side. They finished minor premiers all but one of those premiership-winning campaigns. Their 11-straight titles is a record that will surely never be beaten.
BRISBANE 1992-2000: Five premierships*, Win rate – 71 per cent (159 from 223)
Just pip all-star laden Canberra as top team of the era. Won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993, as well as doing the double with 1997 Super League crown and inaugural NRL trophy the following year. But it was arguably the champion 2000 side that was the best, with all 17 of that grand final side playing either top-tier Test football or State of Origin during their career.
MELBOURNE 2006-2019: Two premierships*, Win rate: 72 per cent (269 from 373)
The early years of the Storm’s dominance will always carry an asterisk due to salary cap breaches but their might can’t be denied. Armed with the once-in-a-generation combination of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater under coach Craig Bellamy, they played four-straight grand finals between 2006 and 2009, winning two. They have only missed the finals once – when they were penalised in 2010 – and played in another four deciders since then for two titles.
