Just So Stories

New Holland Publishers

August 2025

ISBN: 9781760797942

RRP: $49.99

Of course, as a life-long (since age 7) Dragons supporter, I was keen to see this one and read about my Mighty Red V, but also because this is one sport I’ve always loved. And played as a primary school girl with a couple of fellow fans, not officially of course, but every morning before school and every break time, there we were out on the patch of grass pretending we were our heroes – the greats like Reg Gasnier aka Puff the Magic Dragon, Norm Provan, Graeme “Changa” Langlands and Johnny Raper [who I met with the rest of the Australian team coming back from New Zealand and I was beside myself with excitement. Got autographs and JR gave me his lapel pin].

But this is also a treasure trove for me to read the details of my other two favourites: the Bunnies – South Sydney and, of course now, the Dolphins, Redcliffe’s pride and joy.

As someone who grew up loving this game, it has been great to peruse this and find out the back stories even of the clubs I don’t like (haha!) and, to my surprise, clubs from the early days that I never knew existed! The depth of detail will keep any footy fan rapt for hours.

Here’s what the blurb tells you – so you know exactly what to expect: First published in 2004, and updated in 2010, this third edition includes the promotion of the Dolphins club into the NRL (2023)…. ….covers more than a century of rugby league history in this country. The story of every club that has competed in the premier rugby league competition… is fully told in text, timelines, statistics and photographs. From foundation clubs Eastern Suburbs (now the Sydney Roosters) and South Sydney, defunct clubs Annandale, Glebe and University, privately owned Brisbane and Melbourne, merged clubs St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers,to the recently promoted Gold Coast Titans (2007) and Dolphins (2023)clubs.

Is there someone in your family or circle who is an NRL fan? [I think my Father Bear would have loved to read this one – he’s the one who took me to my first game at Jubilee Oval.]. This would make a very tasty Xmas gift for someone who deserves it.

Or you could also consider this for a school collection, because we all know there are plenty of kiddos of both primary and secondary age that will pore over this for hours. Just a heads up – it’s REALLY heavy so if for library, it may need some hinge tape to keep it safer. It couldn’t be anything less than a 5 🏉🐉🐇🐬🏉rating for general reading.