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 – The worst game ever played

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I sit in front of my computer embarrassed to be writing my first review for the Almanac on possibly the worst game of the year.  14th versus 16th on the NRL ladder does not necessarily make this a bad game, and you would think that both proud clubs would be trying desperately to avoid the [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Cronulla Curse

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If there was ever a moment that typified life as a Cronulla supporter, one only had to look at the Sydney Football Stadium last Saturday night in the Sharks’ seemingly meaningless Round 24 encounter with the Headless Chooks. After playing some of their better football in recent weeks, the Sharks had managed to open up [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Monday’s closing in

August 22, 2011 by 3 Comments

When you have put The Bear to sleep (no longer able to play) there is nothing better than combining all the Fs at the footy. Family, friends, food, fruit from the vine(s) and fun. No matter where you are when this is locked in place, the footy looks after itself. In today’s match-up, it is [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – A sad way to go: Gold Coast v Canberra

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I thought about taking the train from Bris Vegas to Skilled Stadium at Robina on the Gold Coast with my 12 year old daughter. It would be Alan Tongue’s last game in Queensland and it would nice to say goodbye. Tongue has been our mutual hero for different reasons. I like how he plays every [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Loving The Locals: Wests Tigers v Parramatta Eels

August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Loving the Locals Leichhardt life is a peach. “Why?” I hear you ask To say that my wife, Ronnie, is a very committed Tigers would be akin to saying that Pope Benedict XVI is a very committed Roman Catholic. For mine though, where else is it possible to wed a café culture to the rough [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – The Form Slump

August 22, 2011 by 3 Comments

    The once-mighty (often mighty, actually, when you consider the 11 premierships in a row) Dragons are in a slump. The reigning premiers played the very sharp Melbourne Storm outfit on Friday night, in far-off Melbourne town. The slump is about to get deeper. Those close to me would argue that of all the [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – NRL R24, 2011: Glory, glory to South Sydney

August 20, 2011 by 1 Comment

We’re heading west on Parramatta Road. Every other car has a white rabbit sticker on its back window. After looking like dead men walking just a month ago, Souths have won three in a row and are suddenly in with a show of making the semis. If they win tonight, that is. Boxhead and I [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – NRL R24, 2011: Celebrating Billy

August 20, 2011 by 2 Comments

I first visited Melbourne in 2000, a lads trip from Canberra in a busted-up Camry that lost both reverse and fifth gear mid-trek as Rohan, Bommy, The Judge and I all took our turns holding the bastard in fifth as we chugged down the Hume. It was the first time I had met Parko. We [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Fire Up

August 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Fans who enjoy Rugby League can consider this the end of the rainbow because they have just found their pot of gold Stephen Ferris and I (Brett Oaten) host a rugby league “show” every Friday morning on FBI 94.5 in Sydney and have done so for many years. Our standards are so low that not [Read more]

Almanac Rugby League – Rugby League comes to The Footy Almanac

August 18, 2011 by 5 Comments

Growing up as a young Canterbury diehard in Orange, when all you would get were two games a week on television and your main contact with the Big League came through Rugby League Week and The Daily Telegraph, the highlight of every Christmas was David Middleton’s Rugby League yearbook. The book was a goldmine for [Read more]