Ben Barba was banned by both the NRL and Rugby Football League in February 2019 following an assault on his partner.
50 Facts About Ben Barba
2.
Ben Barba played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, the Brisbane Broncos in 2014 and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks where he was part of Cronulla's maiden NRL premiership win in the 2016 NRL Grand Final.
3.
Ben Barba is only the second man to win both the Dally M Medal and the Man of Steel award, after Gavin Miller.
4.
Ben Barba had a brief stint in rugby union with RC Toulonnais.
5.
Ben Barba is of Aboriginal, Afghan, and Torres Strait Islander descent.
6.
Ben Barba played Australian Rules at both primary and secondary school competition level in Mackay as a goal kicking forward, though with limited opportunities to participate in the sport, he followed Hawks in the Australian Football League.
7.
Ben Barba signed with the Bulldogs in 2007 at the age of 18 and joined the club in the middle of the 2007 season.
8.
Ben Barba played 26 games, scored 38 tries, kicked 93 goals and two fields goals for 340 points in his U20s career from 2008 to 2009.
9.
Ben Barba played most of the season in the Toyota Cup Under 20s competition, scoring 26 tries in 27 games.
10.
Ben Barba made his NRL debut for Canterbury in Round 20, against the St George Illawarra Dragons in the same week that Sonny Bill Williams quit the club.
11.
At the time he was called up to first-grade, Ben Barba was working at a car wash.
12.
Ben Barba started the season in first grade under new coach Kevin Moore.
13.
Ben Barba eventually played the rest of the season in reserve grade.
14.
Ben Barba finished the season with one try from 4 games.
15.
Ben Barba started the season as a regular first grade player.
16.
Ben Barba finished Canterbury's low performing season with him playing in 21 matches and scoring 15 tries, being Canterbury's standout player.
17.
At the beginning of the season, on 12 February, Ben Barba made his representative debut for the Indigenous All Stars in the 2011 All Stars Match.
18.
The second try came with 49 seconds of the first half remaining, from a move starting in his team's own half and finishing with Ben Barba taking a pass from Jamal Idris, jumping up and twisting the ball round to touch down just inside the in-goal area, as two Parramatta defenders tried to force him out into touch.
19.
Ben Barba's shoulder touching the corner post in the process, with the corner post no longer being part of the touch in-goal area.
20.
Ben Barba scored a try when he chased down a Jonathan Wright cross over kick which was going to go over the dead ball line before Baraba reached out his arms and placed the ball down millimetres away from the deal ball line.
21.
Ben Barba finished the year with him playing in 24 matches and scoring 23 tries, being the season's equal top try scorer with South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Nathan Merritt.
22.
Ben Barba earned himself a selection into the 25-man Queensland State of Origin squad, named as their 19th man in the lead up to Game II of the 2012 series, but did not play in any games.
23.
In Round 16 against the Melbourne Storm at Virgin Australia Stadium in Mackay, in front his own hometown crowd, Ben Barba set the 2012 try of the year for teammate Josh Morris.
24.
Ben Barba fielded a Storm kick only one metre from the dead ball line, then evaded his opposition beating six defenders and ran 70 metres down field before centre kicking for Morris to score next to the posts for what was a 109-metre try.
25.
On 4 September, Ben Barba was awarded the 2012 Dally M Medal.
26.
Ben Barba finished season as the Canterbury club's and the NRL's top try scorer with 22 tries in 27 matches.
27.
On 25 February 2013, Ben Barba was stood down indefinitely from player duties at the Canterbury club due to behavioural issues and for breaches of the club's code of conduct as a result of his off-field behaviour.
28.
Ben Barba had numerous personal issues to resolve before being allowed to play again for Canterbury.
29.
Ben Barba transferred for a three-year deal starting in February 2014.
30.
Ben Barba finished his last year with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2013 NRL season with him playing in 17 matches and scoring 10 tries.
31.
On 14 February 2014, Ben Barba was selected in the Broncos inaugural 2014 NRL Auckland Nines squad, putting on his Brisbane jersey for the first time.
32.
Ben Barba finished the 2014 NRL season with him playing in all the Brisbane Broncos 25 matches and scoring eight tries in his only year in Brisbane.
33.
On 8 November 2014, Barba was told by Broncos incoming coach Wayne Bennett that his services weren't needed for the 2015 season and was granted permission to search for another club to sign with, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks being the favourites to sign the unwanted fullback and five-eighth.
34.
On 11 November, Ben Barba signed a three-year contract with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks starting in 2015.
35.
On 13 February, Ben Barba played at five-eighth for the Indigenous All Stars in the 2015 All Stars match at Cbus Super Stadium.
36.
Ben Barba finished off his first year with the Cronulla club having played in 19 matches and scoring three tries.
37.
On 15 December 2015, Ben Barba was named at five-eighth for the Indigenous All Stars team to play against the NRL All Stars on 13 February 2016.
38.
On 29 January, Ben Barba was named in the Sharks 2016 Auckland Nines squad.
39.
Ben Barba would go on to have a standout season and play an integral part in Cronulla's first premiership.
40.
In November 2016, Ben Barba tested positive to having cocaine in his system and was suspended indefinitely by the NRL.
41.
On 1 February 2017, it was announced that Ben Barba had switched codes and joined French Top 14 rugby union team RC Toulonnais for.
42.
Ben Barba enjoyed a successful season with St Helens in 2018, scoring 28 tries in 23 games as the club finished the regular season with the League Leaders' Shield.
43.
On 25 September 2018, Ben Barba signed a one-year deal with the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2019 season.
44.
On 8 October 2018, Ben Barba won the Man of Steel award.
45.
Ben Barba became the second player after Gavin Miller to win both the Man of Steel and Dally M Medal.
46.
On 1 February 2019, before playing a game for the North Queensland Cowboys, Ben Barba was released due to a significant breach of the terms of his contract.
47.
Ben Barba impressed enough to warrant a call up to the seniors team several hours later and kicked a further six goals.
48.
Ben Barba finished second in the league goalkicking in 2020,2021 and 2022 with 26,63 and 68 goals respectively.
49.
Ben Barba represented North Queensland in 2021 against South Queensland in an AFL curtain raiser match.
50.
In March 2019 Ben Barba plead guilty to public nuisance, and sentenced to community service, with magistrate John Smith noting that his ban from the NRL had been an "enormous penalty".