Almanac Teams: A galaxy of Rising Stars

The burst out of the blocks and into history as the best young talent the AFL has seen since 1993, Rodney Boyd has put together sides from Rising Star winners and noted nominees this week.

Almanac Poetry: Mitchell Library, Sydney, 1997

This week’s poem is a previously unpublished one from KD’s archives, dating from his last visit to Sydney in 1997, when he was in his thirties. [It is quite the location – Ed.]

Almanac Footy (History) – The McHale (and Dan Minogue) V/AFL Premiership DNA Coaching Game

Grand Final History’s second contribution to The Footy Almanac invites you to play a game that links Premiership coaches to two of the best, Jock McHale and Dan Minogue. [Very creative – Ed]

Almanac Footy (History): The story behind the iconic Roy Cazaly image

An historian at work: Carolyn Spooner used Trove and the other tools of discovery at her disposal to track down the story behind one of the iconic images of Australian football – Roy Cazaly’s one-handed leap.

Round 23 – Sal’s Preview: Reigning at the G

Sal reckons that the performance of the non-Victorian teams at the ‘G this year is a useful guide to their finals fortunes. Has he found a smoky this week?

The Furphy Literary Award 2025: ‘The Grim Gripper’ by Dips O’Donnell

Dips O’Donnell’s story ‘The Grim Gripper’ was short-listed for the 2025 Furphy Literary Award. Do yourself a favour.

Almanac Footy: Men of mud!

Old Dog’s photos express so admirably the feelings of what there is to love about footy, especially country footy. [Cracking photos Old Dog, someone should make a book out of them! -Ed]

The Furphy Literary Award: ‘The Undying Love of Specimen A398’ – by Emma Westwood

Emma Westwood, a member of the Footy Almanac community for many years, was short-listed for the Furphy Literary Award 2025 with this story.

Almanac Footy: That’s Fyfe by Les Everett

With the announcement of Nathan Fyfe’s retirement from AFL football, Les Everett reflects on a great career.

Almanac (Cricket) Book Review – Playing to Win: Seeing a bit of Australia in the 1972 Ashes series.

Mike Sexton introduces us to Barry Nicholls’ new book, ‘Playing to Win: Australia and the 1972 Ashes’ and reflects on the series and the impact of the dramatic final Test win to level the series.

Almanac Music: ‘Bare Foot Days’ – Frisco Joe’s Good Time Boys with Smacka the Singin’ Barman

Col Ritchie’s memories of an old 78rpm record were stirred by an image recently sent to him by his sister.

The Worst Record I Ever Bought

While flicking through his collection recently, Smokie stumbled upon the worst record he ever purchased.

The Furphy Literary Award: Winner – ‘The Eulogy Business’ by Serena Moss

This is the story that won The Furphy Literary Award in 2025. It’s by Serena Moss. Do yourself a favour, put the jug on, make a cuppa tea and have a read.

AFLW Round 1 – 2017: Revisited

This post includes the list of articles we published at the time of AFLW’s Round 1, 2017 – the inaugural round. The significant moment inspired many pieces. It also includes some information about The Women’s Footy Almanac 2017, the book we published to celebrate that first season.

NRL Round 23 – RITV: A win is a win is a win!

RITV is basking in the glow of a rare South Sydney win where the enigmatic Latrell Mitchell was his truly enigmatic self! Glory! Glory!

AFLW Round 1, 2017 – Carlton v Collingwood: Footy is about struggle

On the first day of the AFLW 2025 season, we reprise John Harms’s piece on the first-ever AFLW game:

John Harms and family went to Princes Park last Friday night. He regards the Carlton v Collingwood match for premiership points as one of the most memorable sporting events he’s attended. Although he will never do it justice, here’s a glimpse into why.

NRL Round 24 – Prop by the Sea: You gotta love footy!

Prop by the Sea is ever mindful of his place on the tipping ladder but is generous in offering The Crabman plaudits for the latter’s perfect score last weekend. A few big games this week will help gauge the prospects of several finals contenders.

NRL Round 24 (Indigenous Round) and NRLW Round 7 – Hamming it up or just strung out?

Ian Hauser got lucky with ‘the toss of the coin’ last week. Looking at this weekend’s NRL Round 24, he reverted to the same methodology to try to find this weekend’s winners in a few games.

Almanac Footy (History): The 100th Anniversary of the first footy (radio) paywall.

Welcome to Kieran Magee who goes by the pen name of Grand Final History. In his first article, he tells the story of footy on the radio, as we celebrate the centenary of the first broadcasts. [Terrific history – Ed]

Round 22 – Haiku Bob: still here

His beloved Pies may be experiencing a rough patch but Haiku Bob retains the faith!