Rugby League Week

Rugby League Week (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor Big League. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which runs from March to late September (roughly corresponding to the southern hemisphere autumn and winter). The magazine was headquartered in Sydney.[1]

Rugby League Week
EditorChris Clark
CategoriesSport, Rugby league
FrequencyWeekly during NRL season
Circulation22,532
Year founded1970
Final issue2017
CompanyBauer Media Group
CountryAustralia
Based inSydney
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.rugbyleagueweek.com.au
ISSN0035-9742

History

Rugby League Week was launched in 1970.[2] In 2001 the magazine's name was changed to League Week, to avoid confusion with rugby union. It reverted to Rugby League Week in 2003.[1] It is owned by Bauer Media Group.[3] The former owner was ACP Magazines.[1] The last edition was published on 27 March 2017.[4]

Content

The magazine contained news coverage of Australian rugby league, focused primarily on the first-grade NRL competition (previously the NSWFL) but with coverage also devoted to lower-level competitions. There were usually also several profiles of rugby league players in each edition. A number of league personalities, including Mark Geyer, Stacey Jones and Wally Lewis, had regular columns; unconfirmed rumours and miscellaneous gossip are reported in a column written by 'The Mole'.

Each edition contains previews of the games to be played in the next NRL round, running from Friday to Monday. Details of every match from the previous round are also included: the games are assessed and each player who took the field, as well as the referee, is given a rating. Details of when and by whom points were scored are also included. (Before the formation of the Brisbane Broncos, these ratings and details were also given for the Brisbane Rugby League competition.) Results, but not ratings, are published for most notable rugby league competitions in Australia, as well as major competitions in New Zealand and England.

Player of the Year

Related to the rating of players ever since Rugby League Week was first published during the 1970 NSWRFL season has been its Player of the Year award.

Since 1978, players have been rated out of ten for every game. To deal with absences from club rugby due to interstate and Test duty, the five lowest scores of every player are deleted from their final score. After these five lowest scores are removed, the player with the highest score wins the award.

From 1970 to 1977, the method of judging was the same except that players were awarded points out of five instead of ten.

Year Player
1970 Tommy Bishop
1971 Bob Grant
1972 John Ballesty
1973 Johnny Mayes
1974 Arthur Beetson
1975 Bob Fulton
1976 Ray Higgs
1977 Mick Cronin
1978 Geoff Gerard
1979 Ray Price
1980 Kevin Hastings
1981 Kevin Hastings
1982 Kevin Hastings
1983 Phil Sigsworth
1984 Peter Sterling
1985 Ray Price
1986 Peter Sterling
1987 Peter Sterling
1988 Ben Elias
1989 Gavin Miller
1990 Mal Meninga
1991 Ewan McGrady
1992 Paul Langmack
1993 Steve Walters
1994 Cliff Lyons
1995 Laurie Daley
1996 Allan Langer
1997 Brad Fittler
1998 Andrew Johns
1999 Andrew Johns
2000 Andrew Johns
2001 Andrew Johns
2002 Andrew Johns
2003 Steve Price
2004 Nathan Hindmarsh
2005 Nathan Hindmarsh
2006 Luke Bailey
2007 Johnathan Thurston
2008 Billy Slater
2009 Jarryd Hayne
2010 Paul Gallen
2011 Corey Parker
2012 Ben Barba
2014 Jarryd Hayne
2015 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
2016 Jason Taumalolo

The Immortals
Main article: The Immortals (rugby league)

In 1981 Rugby League Week named 'The Immortals', four players that they considered to be the greatest in Australian history. In 1999 another two were added and in 2003 another one. At the end of the 2012 NRL season it was decided that Andrew Johns would become the eighth immortal. Currently numbering eight, The Immortals are:

Ten out of Ten

Since the 1978 NSWRFL season, Rugby League Week has rated each player in each premiership and representative game on a scale of 1-10. There have been 17 players since 1978 to achieve the rare feat of being rated 10/10 for a game. Manly-Warringah second row forward Terry Randall had the honour of being the first player to be rated 10/10 in the opening round of the 1978 season. Parramatta halfback Peter Sterling is the only player to achieve this twice while Brad Fittler is the only player to receive 10/10 in a representative game having done so in the second test of the 1995 Trans-Tasman Test series against New Zealand.[5]

RLW's 10/10 ratings since 1978 include:

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References
  1. "Rugby league week". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. Tim Lince (27 July 2012). "Dale scores Rugby League Week editorship". Influencing. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. Lindsay Bennett (26 October 2016). "Bauer sells off five magazines to employee". AdNews. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  4. Rugby League Week to publish last issue in March due to commercial realities ABC News 9 March 2017
  5. League Unlimited - RLW Player Ratings

Further reading
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