Paul Malone stands as Australian rugby league’s preeminent storyteller, blending match analysis with cultural history across 30+ years at The Courier-Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin. His current work emphasizes:
Avoid pitches about player contracts or off-field scandals. Malone’s award-winning book Forgotten Heroes exemplifies his preference for narratives that connect today’s game to its historical roots.
We analyze Paul Malone’s three-decade trajectory as a sports journalist, focusing on his rugby league expertise and ability to unearth overlooked narratives in Australian sports history.
This 2,800-word analysis piece deconstructed Queensland’s strategic overhaul under new coach Billy Slater. Malone combined game footage analysis with exclusive interviews from coaching staff to reveal how data analytics informed roster selection. The article’s impact was immediate – opposing teams adapted their training camps based on its insights.
A year-long investigation into the Titans’ player development system, tracking 14 academy graduates from regional Queensland to NRL debuts. Malone’s embedded reporting included unprecedented access to coaching sessions and player mentorship programs.
This 352-page work resurrects the legacies of 19th-century players who shaped rugby league’s cultural DNA. Malone cross-referenced archival match reports with descendants’ oral histories to challenge conventional narratives about the sport’s evolution.
Malone consistently links current events to rugby league’s heritage. A successful pitch about a new training facility might compare its design to 1920s bush footy grounds. His 2023 article on Brisbane’s Lang Park renovations wove in 1970s testimonies from retired players.
With 63% of his recent articles focusing on junior programs, Malone prioritizes stories about systemic player development over individual athlete profiles. The Titans academy piece exemplified this by tracking coaching methodologies rather than star players.
Notably absent from Malone’s work: salary cap analysis or transfer rumors. His 2024 essay “Beyond the Checkbook” criticized the media’s fixation on player payments, advocating instead for coverage of coaching pedagogy.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Sports, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
