March 17: El Magic round as Hazem puts 34 on Tigers
On this day, Luke Burt and Hazem El Masri pile on the points, Billy Slater posts a new tryscoring record and an ankle injury forces Jharal Yow Yeh into an early retirement.
1997
An incident in a weekend match in which North Sydney's Chris Caruana allegedly racially vilified Newcastle's Owen Craigie leads the ARL to develop a policy aimed at stamping out racial and religious taunts. Caruana is fined and relegated from the Bears' starting line-up.
2002
Parramatta open their premiership campaign with a 64-6 defeat of Penrith at Parramatta Stadium. Winger Luke Burt breaks the Eels' record for most points in a match with a 28-point haul.
2006
Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri scores a club record 34 points in his team's 47-12 defeat of the Wests Tigers at Telstra Stadium.
2009
Cronulla prop Ben Ross is ruled out for the season after scans on his injured neck reveal a ruptured disk placing pressure on his spinal cord. He undergoes surgery at St Vincent's Hospital.
2012
Melbourne fullback Billy Slater becomes the greatest tryscoring fullback in the history of the premiership with a third successive two-try haul as the Storm crush the Titans 30-6 at Skilled Park. Storm coach Craig Bellamy labels Slater the best fullback he has ever seen. Slater's second try takes him past previous record-holder Rhys Wesser, who finished with 129 career four-pointers.
2013
Canterbury winger Steve Turner announces his immediate retirement after failing to make a full recovery from knee surgery.
2014
Former Test winger Jharal Yow Yeh announces his retirement after failing to recover from a compound fracture of his right ankle, suffered in Perth in 2012 while playing for the Broncos against South Sydney.
2020
The NRL announce that players will be required to self-isolate to avoid the threat of coronavirus infection as the game attempts to continue in the face of the greatest threat it has faced.
This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton
