March 28: History made at Henson Park
On this day, Henson Park turned into 'ground zero' as Newtown and Canterbury battled out the only nil-all draw in league history, the evergreen Cliff Lyons came to Manly's rescue and Amos Roberts ran rings around the Warriors.
1972
Former Canterbury and Tigers forward Darren Senter was born on March 28, 1972. The Wests Tigers' inaugural captain in 2000, Senter was a hard-working hooker or lock who played 224 games across a 13-year career.
1982
Newtown and Canterbury play out the only nil-all draw in first-grade premiership history. Henson Park became 'ground zero' as two teams packed with attacking talent failed to trouble the scorer.
The Warren Ryan-coached Jets side included Phil Sigsworth, John Ferguson, Graeme O'Grady and Ray Blacklock while Canterbury boasted Greg Brentnall, George Peponis and the three Mortimer boys and three Hughes boys.
Neither team would go on to feature in the finals that season as Parramatta made it back to back titles.
1982
A young Craig Bellamy makes his first-grade debut off the bench for the Canberra Raiders in their 13-4 loss to St George at Kogarah Oval.
The fleet-footed centre/winger goes on to play 20 games in 1992 and score nine tries.
Bellamy remains a one-club man across his 11 seasons in the top grade, scoring 46 tries in 149 games for the Green Machine.
1999
Manly call 37-year-old Cliff Lyons out of retirement after a disastrous start to the 1999 season.
The Sea Eagles conceded 123 points and scored just 28 in the first three rounds to they lure their favourite son Cliffy back to try and turn things around.
It took Manly until round eight to register a first win for the season and they won three in a row to steady the ship.
2004
Penrith winger Amos Roberts scores four tries in a 42-22 win over the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium.
Roberts' haul remains equal second best in club history behind Peter Langmack who bagged five tries at Penrith Park against St George in 1974.
Others to have scored four in a match for Penrith include Peter Jorgensen (1999), Craig Gower (2000) and David Simmons (2015).
2010
Canterbury run riot on the back of four tries to Josh Morris to humble the Roosters 60-14 at ANZ Stadium.
The Bulldogs came into the round three clash on the back of two losses while the Roosters were 2-0 but the form book counted for little as the blue and whites ran riot.
This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton.
