True Blues Paul Langmack and Terry Lamb have six premierships between them and now they both have a ‘NRL 300 Club’ ring to add to that collection.
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs legends were appropriately honoured on the King’s Birthday holiday before kick-off in the NRL match between the Bulldogs and Parramatta Eels, won 22-18 by Canterbury-Bankstown with a Blake Wilson try the 75th minute.
NRL Chief Executive Andrew Abdo presented the 300-game rings before a packed Accor Stadium.
Lamb, who played seven times for NSW, was the second player to reach 300 (in 1994) after Eels great Geoff Gerard (1989).
Langmack, NSWRL’s Mental Fitness and Wellbeing Manager, played four Origins and in 1997 was the third player to make the 300 milestone.
The first five players to reach 300 first-grade games since 1908 are all being honoured with rings. Cliff Lyons and Andrew Ettingshausen are the fourth and fifth players on the prestigious list.
“I came from a footballing family. My older brother Peter played for Parramatta and Penrith and in his second year at the Panthers (1974) he scored five tries against St George to create his own piece of history,” Langmack told nswrl.com.au
“I guess I have mine now. But when you’re young you don’t appreciate all these milestones and achievements. You just played because you loved the game so much.
“I played in four grand finals in my first six years out of school. I won three premierships and I think back now and can hardly believe it.
“I was just lucky to be at such a great club like the Bulldogs, where us younger blokes learned off the older ones who were so fit and determined to be the best.”
Both Langmack and Lamb toured with the 1986 Kangaroos to Great Britain and France.
Langmack won the 1984 premiership with the Bulldogs the year after he finished high school, and then was a part of the 1985 and 1988 winning teams.
Lamb won in 1984, 1988 and 1995, when he captained the Bulldogs to victory over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. He missed the 1985 Grand Final due to a groin injury.