THEY say records, like rules, are made to be broken.

There’s some footy marks that can never be beaten — Frank Burge’s eight tries in a match, Dave Brown’s 38 tries in a season or 45 points in a single match — but there’s others that are tantalisingly within reach.

We’ve taken a look at six rugby league records and whether they could be broken in the near future.

Most career tries — Ken Irvine, 212

Irvine’s 212 tries is one of the more remarkable records in rugby league history. Not only is the North Sydney and Manly legend the only player to crack the 200 try mark, he’s a full 32 tries ahead of the next best (Steve Menzies on 180) and managed to grab all his touchdowns in 236 games. That meant he rattled along at almost one try per match for 15 years.

Can it be broken: Not likely.

The three most prolific tryscorers currently in the NRL are Billy Slater (172), Brett Stewart (162) and Manu Vatuvei (146). Vatuvei is too far back, leaving Slater and Stewart to duke it out. Slater’s 2015 season was a write off — he only played eight games and scored two tries, both career lows — and needs 41 tries to surpass Irvine. In the last four seasons, Slater has scored 48 tries in 74 matches. He’d need to maintain this strike rate for another four years — or until past his 36th birthday — to surpass Irvine, which is difficult to see.

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Stewart is 10 tries behind Slater, but is also two years younger. His 2015 season — 16 tries in 22 matches — was his most prolific since the Sea Eagles premiership season of 2008. He requires 50 tries to top Irvine, and has 51 tries in the past four seasons. He would need to continue his current level of production for another four seasons to surpass Irvine without succumbing to injury or being pushed out of the club, which seems unlikely.

media_camera Ken Irvine scored an outrageous amount of tries.

Most career goals — Jason Taylor, 942

Taylor’s career point scoring total of 2107 was surpassed by Andrew Johns in 2007 and Hazem El Masri in 2009, but his 942 goals is still a competition record.

Can it be broken: Yes

Currently in 7th spot on the all time list, Cameron Smith is the current leader in career goals with 823 and he’s kicked at least 70 goals in every season since 2011. Two more seasons at his current level would see him surpass Taylor, but the record may not last long. Jarrod Croker (404 goals) and Adam Reynolds (345 goals) could both overtake Smith if they continue kicking throughout their careers.

Most career points — Hazem El Masri, 2418

El Masri sits unchallenged as the greatest point scorer in the game’s history, with 2418 points, almost a full three hundred ahead of Andrew Johns on 2176. As impressive as El Masri’s feat is, it’s even more remarkable by the fact that he didn’t become a full time kicker until 2001, his sixth season in first grade. If he’d kicked from the beginning and maintained his average points per year from 2001 to 2009 (which was a ridiculous 247.1 per season) he would have finished with an obscene 3653 career points — almost 1500 ahead of Johns.

Can it be broken: Ridiculously, yes it can.

For someone to break El Masri’s record, they can’t just be a goalkicker. El Masri might have been the best ever from the tee, but he also scored 159 tries and if anyone was to surpass him they’d need four pointers to supplement the two pointers and they’d need to kick almost from the day they came into first grade. Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker is the one player who meets all these criteria.

Croker took over the kicking duties from Terry Campese in the latter half of 2010, but in the five full seasons he was the full time kicker he’s averaged 190.8 points per year. With 1128 points in total, Croker would need to keep hitting that average for another six seasons to surpass El Masri. Croker is in his sixth season of first grade, he’s never failed to play more than 20 matches in a year and he’s still just 25. The record is fully within is reach.

media_camera Jarrod Croker could end up with a couple of all-time records.

Most points in a season- Hazem El Masri, 342 in 2004

El Masri becoming the first player to break 300 points in a season was a big deal in 2004. He’d scored 294 in 2003 and cracked the magical mark in the Bulldogs’ semi final win over Melbourne. Some kind of threshold seemed to be passed with the number — Brett Hodgson scored 308 the next season, but those two remain the only players to do so. El Masri came close again in 2006, scoring 296 points, but nobody has really threatened since.

Could it be broken: There’s a slim chance.

Michael Gordon (270 in 2010), James Maloney (252 points in 2013 and 250 points this season), Jamie Lyon (242 points in 2013), Jarrod Croker (236 in 2015) and Jamie Soward (234 in 2009) are the only active players inside the top 40 in terms of highest points scored in a season. For any of them to beat El Masri, they’d need to play in an attacking minded team, score a heap of tries and kick above 80 per cent.

Those are a lot of variables, but stranger things have happened. Assuming a team plays the maximum number of matches (28), a player plays every game and the team makes the grand final, he’d need to average 12.4 points per match to break El Masri’s mark.

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Most career games — Darren Lockyer, 355

Could it be broken: Of all the records on this list, this one is the most likely to break.

Lockyer’s 355 is ahead of Terry Lamb (350) and Steve Menzies (349) on the all time list, but there’s a chasing pack closing in fast. Corey Parker, a long time teammate of Lockyer’s, has 323 matches and given that he’s a robot from the future who doesn’t feel pain or age (apart from his snappy grey hairs), he’ll pass Lockyer is he plays on through 2017. Melbourne trio Cameron Smith (309) might finish on top of the heap, as could Anthony Watmough (309).

In terms of longer term shots, Mitchell Pearce (204 matches at 26), Wade Graham (153 matches at 25) and Croker (164 matches at 25) are all chances to finish top of the pile by the end. Pearce in particular has a great chance at making it all the way — he’s the youngest player ever to reach the 200 game mark.

media_camera Mitchell Pearce’s longevity could see him finish with several all-time records.

Most career try assists — Johnathan Thurston, 288 and counting.

Could it be broken: Yes, but unlikely

Try assists are a woolly old stat, because they’ve only been counted since 2000 but in that time frame Johnathan Thurston, unsurprisingly, stands unchallenged. His 288 in 268 matches is a remarkable total, and he’s a certainty to pass 300 next season. Cooper Cronk is in second place with 259 and while there’s a chance that the Melbourne halfback could surpass his Queensland and Australian teammate, he would need Thurston to retire at the end of 2017 and then continue at his current level for another four or five seasons — a possible outcome, but not a probable one. Matt Orford (218), Scott Prince (214) and Benji Marshall (212) round out the top five, while Mitchell Pearce (177) and Jamie Soward (163) are the next most prolific among active players. As with the all time game record, longevity may see Pearce finish over the top but Thurston might take this record home if he puts up another 25 or so try assists in the next two seasons.