The A to Z of the NRL – M is for NRL Mascots

The NRL’s return is not far away, so in the meantime here is a fresh injection of the A to Z of the NRL series; this edition is all about NRL mascots.

The mascots are the unsung heroes of the NRL. They entertain the kids that aren’t that interested in the on field action, take varying levels of abuse and slaps from the more anti-social attendees, and pose for photos with the normal people.

We’re not sure that they will be included in a post-COVID-19 NRL season, but we truly are hoping they are still included in the match day experience. Even without a crowd.

Just in case they aren’t going to make another appearance in 2020, we are using this edition of the A to Z of the NRL to not only celebrate the NRL mascots but rank them according to a few fields judged by us.

There’s the overall look, X-Factor, whether they appear to be child-friendly, have a cool name, or for balance (and a female-friendly stance) we borrowed the view of Ladies Who League. We gave every NRL mascot a score out of ten for all categories, and the biggest total after the five categories wins.

So, unlike a flu shot, we are pressing on with our A to Z of NRL Mascots, ranked 1 to 16.

1 – REGGIE THE RABBITOH (South Sydney Rabbitohs)

Arguably the most known of the NRL mascots, and a former winner of our Person of the Year.

Hard to argue about a bunny being kid friendly too, especially around Easter.

Reggie’s name is old school, but still retro enough to be slightly cool, and his longevity is the real X-Factor.

He has his own kids fan club, and according to this article was the only NRL mascot not to get paid.

And the man inside the suit is over 7 years old and been involved with the club for decades.

2 – BLUEY THE CATTLE DOG (North Queensland Cowboys)

Bluey is a fine specimen, but his rank of second owes a lot to his name and the popularity of the Australian cartoon Bluey.

He looks friendly enough, but with an edge of toughness, so he’s well suited to the folks up north.

This is the second Bluey for the Cowboys; they originally had an actual dog Bluey leading them onto the field.

3 – BOOM (Melbourne Storm)

Boom has a real resemblance to Captain Charger, one of the great NRL mascots, so it is no surprise he ranks so highly.

He’s child-friendly because he looks like a superhero (most kids like superheroes), and we are big fans of the name Boom.

There’s plenty of X-Factor too, as he looks like he could be a lurking crime fighter when not on the field.

4 – VICTOR THE VIKING (Canberra Raiders)

Still riding a wave of popularity from 2019, Victor the Viking does Canberra proud by ending up as our fourth-best NRL mascot.

Perhaps it is easier to make a human mascot look better than an animal, but Victor the Viking does look better than most. And it does have the double V in the name that we love in a mascot, where the name and mascot type start with the same letter.

Being a Viking and having a moustache makes him less child-friendly than others, but that also works the other way for X-Factor.

Like Batman unmasking himself in Batman Returns, Victor was famous for taking off his head to fully show his emotions after Canberra’s preliminary final win against Souths last year.

5 – REEFY & HAMMERHEAD (Cronulla Sharks)

These two Sharks mascots sound like a modern-day Cheech and Chong, or a Hawaiian detective duo, but they are a good pair.

Their great names bump them up the order too.

Being sharks, they aren’t as child-friendly as the others. Hammerhead looks like it could give an unsuspecting child a nightmare or two.

But they do look like decent quality mascots and have some X-Factor as sharks.

6 – SCORCH THE DRAGON (St George Illawarra Dragons)

The Dragons’ mascot features higher than we originally thought, based mainly on the great name, and the Ladies Who League rating.

Pictured above with King of the Kids Wendell Sailor, our rating has him lower on kid-friendliness, as he’s a giant dragon.

But if anything, the dragon doesn’t look ferocious enough, and looks basically the same as the sponsor’s dragon, which we aren’t fans of. Mascots should be separate from sponsors.

7 – TOKI (New Zealand Warriors)

There’s plenty of X-Factor for Toki, as he looks menacing enough, but perhaps not one that many kids will seek a cuddle with.

The fact that he looks a little pissweak is a big tick in our box, and he’s a little bit different, which means he ranks higher than a large bunch of animal-based mascots.

8 – TIMMY THE TIGER (Wests Tigers)

Timmy the Tiger appears to be a bit of a character, the above shot was one of many we could have chosen for the Wests Tigers mascot, hence a boost in the X Factor.

It’s a child friendly mascot, looking less threatening than a Tiger could look. But that does count against in overall looks looking more like something you’d see on cereal box.

It does have the double T in the name we like, but Timmy seems a little unimaginative.

At does the Tigers didn’t finish 9th for a change.

9 – EGOR THE EAGLE (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles)

We love the name Egor, and the double E, and as far as Sea Eagles mascots go, it is a pretty good one.

Its mean look makes it less child friendly than others, but it is a quality looking suit.

10 – ROCKY THE ROOSTER (Sydney Roosters)

There should be more to like about a giant Foghorn Leghorn looking mascot, but we just don’t feel it with Rocky.

Perhaps there’s a subliminal dislike of roosters in general.

11 – KNYTRO (Newcastle Knights)

We like the name Knytro, and love the fact in the above photo that he walks around with a court jester.

But it is a strange looking mascot, one that looks like it would scare off the kids.

It looks cumbersome too, so you could imagine that the mascot can’t do too much.

12 – BRUTUS (Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs)

Perhaps it’s a little harsh, but it would be hard to make a bulldog mascot look too good.

Brutus looks like he’s looking for a quick pat, which is great for the kids, who will most likely oblige.

We’re not sold on the name Brutus, and he looks as much like a bunny as he does a dog.

13 – BLADE (Gold Coast Titans)

He looks like the genie from Aladdin, which is not a good thing.

Love the name though. It does sort of show that the Titans mascot and nickname don’t really match the area.

14 – BUCK (Brisbane Broncos)

Friday night specialist Buck is used to the limelight given the big crowds at Suncorp Stadium, and all the FTA exposure on Nein.

Perhaps all those advantages over other mascots is why we have rated Buck harshly.

Just like the Broncos in general; all that power and only one grand final appearance since 2006.

If we had gone for the actual horse that runs around the field after tries, then we’re sure the other Buck would have rated higher.

15 -SPARKY THE EEL (Parramatta Eels)

An eel isn’t a great animal to work with to come up with a mascot, and the end result above is well down in the pecking order.

It looks a little bit scary to be honest, which is why it is down in the kid friendly factor.

Perhaps we just haven’t been to enough Eels home game to see Sparky in action. Or understand why an eel is called sparky.

16 – CLAWS THE PANTHER (Penrith Panthers)

Claws really looks the most pissweak of all the NRL mascot, and not in a Captain Charger delightfully pissweak way.

And whoever thought of the yellow glasses has just made the problem worse.