Almanac Rugby League

The Almanac Rugby league Crew

If you’d like to publish a rugby league story on The Footy Almanac website, please contact Ian Hauser.

 

If you’d like to join the Footy Almanac’s rugby league email list to receive our regular
Thursday updates during the season and occasional updates in the off-season, contact John Harms in the first instance.

 

The Footy Almanac’s coverage of rugby league features a team of four regular columnists:

Ian Hauser provides a round by round preview/review and comments on specific players/incidents.
Matt O’Hanlon (Prop by the Sea) offers a quirky take of the week’s happenings on and off the field.
Mark Shannon (The Prospector) comments on various issues in the code, both historical and current.
Russel Hansen (Rabbit in the Vineyard) gives a specific take on South Sydney’s progress.

as well as numerous other occasional contributors.

Our collection of articles appears below. The first article was published in 2010.

 

Almanac Rugby League – Hope is all we have

February 14, 2012 by 2 Comments

  by Paul Connolly     “Hope is necessary in every condition,” Samuel ‘Magic’ Johnson once wrote. “The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, of being a Sharks fan, would, without this comfort, be insupportable.”   Keen scholars will realise that I added the bit about being a Sharks fan. (After all, there’s about a [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – 2012 Indigenous All Stars Team Named

December 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

From Peter Hulthen The 2012 Indigenous All Stars team is: 1. Ben Barba (Bulldogs; Goreng Goreng) 2. Jharal Yow Yeh (Broncos; Margany) 3. Greg Inglis (Rabbitohs; Dunghutti) 4. Justin Hodges (Broncos; Indigenous tribes of the Cairns region) 5. Nathan Merritt (Rabbitohs; Wiradjuri) 6. Johnathan Thurston (c) (Cowboys; Gungarri) 7. Chris Sandow (Eels; Bigambul/ Gubbi Gubbi) [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Artie

December 1, 2011 by 5 Comments

  It’s a sad, sad day for lovers of rugby league the world over with the death of Artie Beetson at the all too young age of 66. The achievements, awards, acclamations,  will be fully documented in the coming days. Among all the things that will be said and read, perhaps a telling indicator of [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Four Nations Final

November 21, 2011 by 3 Comments

When the final whistle blew for Australia to defeat England 30 – 8 in the Four Nations final this morning, two thoughts occurred to me. Firstly, Will Evans is a prophet – a week ago he said that the Poms would stay with the Australians for an hour before the Australians got away. Score one [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Farewell Fit for a Legend

November 21, 2011 by 4 Comments

Darren Lockyer’s farewell cavalcade finally came to a triumphant end at the fitting venue of Elland Road. The hallowed Leeds ground was the scene of arguably Lockyer’s greatest performance – Australia’s 44-4 thrashing of Great Britain in the 2004 Tri-Nations final. Lockyer laid on five tries, scored one himself and kicked six goals as Australia [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Unpretty Kiwis out of Four Nations

November 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

Getting rid of Foxtel for the summer during the week has already back-fired – no Channel 9 coverage of the England vs. New Zealand clash at Hull means I am forced to trundle down to the local drinking hole at 10am on Sunday morning to catch a replay.  The sticky carpet and faint odour of [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Benji back to form in half-baked victory

November 8, 2011 by 1 Comment

 by Will Evans My childhood recollections of seeing my heroes in black and white play at Wembley aren’t great.  The Kiwis approached the first Test of the 1993 away series against Great Britain with confidence after pushing Australia earlier in the year and drawing a home series with the Lions one-all the previous season.  But, [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – That’s More Like It

November 7, 2011 by 2 Comments

International rugby league got a shot in the arm when Australia played its way into the Four Nations final with a hard-fought 36 – 20 win over England at Wembley Stadium last night. The very competitive Poms pushed the Australians for all but the last 10 minutes, and so next weekend’s New Zealand v England [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Welcome Wembley return despite curse of the commentators

November 6, 2011 by 2 Comments

Still bristling from Channel 9’s insulting 45 minute highlights package of the Kangaroos vs. Kiwis opener last week, I was somewhat appeased to find the Wembley double-header televised live.  My eyes grew heavy sitting through the dour second half of the NZ vs. Wales clash, however, and I left it for the Foxtel IQ to [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Could the NZ halves please stand up?

November 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

After watching the opening game of the Four Nations tournament between Australia and New Zealand, I’m left with a puzzle: is Benji Marshall badly out of form, injured or just foxing? I mean, how can someone who is supposed to be one of the two or three best players in the world put in two [Read more]