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 – Revelling in the glory

October 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been lucky enough to watch Manly play in six grand finals, and even luckier to experience them winning three. I love them all for different reasons, and the Sea Eagles’ 24-10 victory over the New Zealand Warriors is no different. It had all the qualities that we celebrate the game of rugby league for, [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The first of many

October 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Nearly 82,000 people ventured to Homebush from every point on the compass to witness the 2011 NRL showdown between the Sea Eagles and the Warriors. Around the country, BBQs were in full swing, with some fans just about to watch their third League Grand Final for the day having witnessed exciting finales to the undercard [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A heartbreaking loss

October 4, 2011 by 1 Comment

I was one mouse click away from being in Sydney for Grand Final day but ultimately had enough stuff in my head telling me not to go. I didn’t and right at the bottom of my heart I now think it was the correct decision. I would have been dead set filthy on myself however [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The near demise of the McIntyre finals system

October 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Let me be upfront about this – I don’t like the McIntyre finals system and believe it to be inherently flawed. The potential (as occurred this season) for the opening week finals matches involving sides three to six to be rendered all but moot by the top two sides winning their games is highly irritating. [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – You may not like the teams but you had to like the game they played

October 4, 2011 by 4 Comments

    Many-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 d. New Zealand Warriors 10     JJ Leahy   If you support a team in any sporting competition, over time you will inevitably develop a pecking order of the other participants from your next favoured to your most disliked. For most supporters of teams other than this years grand [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – What happened to Gus Gould’s hair?

September 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’m in Brisbane for the weekend visiting family. It’s the first chance I’ve had in many a year to watch a Friday night game live on television. It’s also the first chance I’ve had to watch Channel Nine’s pregame ‘entertainment” too. Mercy me. So let’s start with the (actual) white elephant on the commentary panel: [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Year of The Seagulls

September 27, 2011 by 7 Comments

Queensland Cup Rugby League Grand Final 2011 Wynnum Manly Seagulls 16 d Tweed Heads Seagulls 10 by JJ Leahy The Queensland Cup is one of two Rugby League competitions that sit at a level below the National Rugby League. The other is its New South Wales counterpart. It is contested by five clubs from  Brisbane [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The highs and lows of a Preliminary Final

September 26, 2011 by 3 Comments

Oh, the highs and the lows of preliminary finals weekend. They’ll hit your harder than Brad Izzard on a cold day and they’ll stick with you until you breathe your last. There is something enduring about it, something special, something that separates it from Grand Final weekend, giving it a unique feel, an individual aura. [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A deserved win

September 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As a Broncos fan who has always had a strong dislike of Manly, I’ll get the difficult part over with straight away: I have to admit Manly deserved to win. In all honesty I wasn’t expecting the Broncos to win. With Darren Lockyer missing, I sensed the Broncos wouldn’t quite have what it took to [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A relentless wave

September 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Despite the absence of my team, and ignoring the Melbourne – Newcastle game, this has been an extremely high quality finals series – the St. George/ Brisbane, St George /Wests Tigers and Wests Tigers/NZ Warriors games were all incredibly exciting but this game – from start to finish – topped the lot. It was fast, [Read more]