Here’s a slightly different look back at the bumper year in rugby league.

You’ll see the weather referenced a touch further down too, but there’s simply no other way to describe the conditions Orange Hawks and Orange CYMS played in during their blockbuster, local derby qualifying semi-final at Wade Park. An absolute blizzard hit the ground midway through the game.

Josh Rainbow played everywhere during his time at Blayney and sure, he was always good, but he went to a new level as Cowra’s skipper in 2018. 

Found his home in the back-row and helped lead his side to a grand final that, for 75 minutes, they looked like winning.

He also claimed Group 10’s player of the year award.

A prop that not only plays like a half, but actually got the chance to do so in 2018, at one stage lining up at five-eighth for the Dragons. This bloke’s a revelation, and the hero of all the big-boppers who’ve been pigeon-holed as bookends and never given the chance.

We love him.

Led by a man-of-the-match performance from Oberon’s Josh Starling, Group 10 knocked off Group 11 at this year’s Western Rams Representative Cluster, defeating their traditional rivals for the first time since 2014.

Mick Sullivan’s time at the helm of Orange CYMS came to an end in 2018, he’s moved on to junior club Wingham for the next two years. His time in charge of the club came to an end in the minor semi-final, but he finished as Group 10’s most celebrated captain-coach of all-time with five premierships from seven grand final appearances.

A CHAMPION’S SEND-OFF: Orange CYMS great Mick Sullivan looks back on remarkable record at the Group 10 club

No, not the excellent Disney we all love but also hate for getting those stupid songs stuck in our heads. In this case, it’s Oberon Sportsground, which was once again inundated with snow during 2018, forcing the abandonment of an entire round of footy.

Blayney may not have done particularly well this season, but at the very least the Bears won a couple of games. Their maiden win of the season over Lithgow Workies was the club’s first premier league victory since 2016, and there’s no doubting how much it meant to all the players and supporters.

That’s a word thrown around all too often in rugby league circles, but Bathurst Panthers captain-coach Doug Hewitt showed plenty of it at the back end of 2018. In both the preliminary and grand finals he played through a severe knee injury but led his men to the title anyway, but was so busted he had to be helped onto the podium to accept the trophy.

Panthers are in good hands with a leader as tough as Hewitt, with his side’s win potentially sparking a new era of dominance for the men in black.

Specifically, Oberon’s implosion.

After going agonisingly close to winning the 2017 title, beaten only by a Mick Sullivan field goal, Oberon signed former NRL enforcer Josh Starling along with CYMS superstar Ben McAlpine and at the beginning of the season looked all but sure-things to go one better. They didn’t, they finished fourth.

First it was off-field drama with captain-coach Luke Branighan being stood down in the pre-season, then battles with continuity hampered the Tigers on the field once the year kicked off.

Now they’ve lost most of their big names stars and while we’re predicting Starling to do a bang-up job, this premiership window looks closed for the club.

PRE-SEASON PROBLEMS: Tigers stand down coach two weeks out from round one

Once again Oberon’s star three-quarter was magnificent this season, but this is more to do with his teammate Dave Sellers’ ferocious one-man campaign to have Brien feature in our Top 20 Most Influential Players list.

Seriously, he may as well of stood outside our office picketing.

THE TOP 20: Who has been Group 10's most influential player of 2018?

Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, and using it on Orange Hawks’ 2018 season brings two massive moments to the fore – the injuries of Nathan Potts and Ethan McKellar. While Potts’ broken jaw came in May, McKellar’s season-ending injury came at the back end of the year and the two bluesa were severely impacted by not having two of their best forwards in the finals. Ultimately, they finished third. 

If you want to talk about a captain leading by example, you need look no further than Orange Hawks’ Willie Heta, and the performance he produced in the second half of his side’s major semi-final loss to the Cowra Magpies.

His effort in that half, nay, that entire game, was other-wordly. Heta laid on a try for Rakai Tuheke and sent Eman Rodriguez away for another with a chip kick, nailed a huge 40-20 and potted a sideline conversion too, which went with his brilliant first-half try.

All that pushed his side onto level terms at 24-all after Cowra led at the break, but it wasn’t quite enough as a Caley Mok penalty goal in the 80^th minute sealed the Magpies’ two-point win.

Lithgow Workies’ Matt Swift rocked the mullet of all mullets during 2018, one Billy Ray Cyrus would be proud of.

There was absolutely no one but Mish Somers who could have claimed the league tag’s player-of-the-final gong, such was the standard of her effort in Bathurst St Pat’s grand final win. All three of the Saints’ tries came directly from her kicks and she was in everything, picking up her second straight MVP as a result.

This year’s grand final was just the second time since 2010, coincidentally when Mick Sullivan arrived in the colour city, that one or both of Orange’s sides haven’t featured in a grand final. In another coincidence, the other one that didn't feature either Hawks or CYMS was also in Cowra, between the Magpies and Bathurst St Pat’s in 2014.

The Bathurst club finally did what it hasn’t been able to in recent years, and made a splash in September. For so long Panthers had looked a premiership side then not delivered, but this year they did just that, scoring their first premier league title since 2007 by downing the Cowra Magpies 12-10 in an epic grand final at Sid Kallas Oval.

Oh, they won it from fourth too, a fair achievement.

PANTHERS POUNCE: Wright’s sideline stunner snatches miracle, comeback grand final win

There’s a few floating about, but none more than the question mark hovering over the NAB Western Premiers Challenge, and more specifically the timing of it. While the concept is marvellous, this year’s featured drastically understrength Bathurst Panthers and Forbes Magpies sides, due to the post-season scheduling.

Orange CYMS’ under-18 hooker Sam Warner led his side admirably in this year’s grand final, which the green and golds lost to Bathurst Panthers, but that’s not what we’re referring to. The young rake took the field at Cowra little more than a day after his mother sadly lost her battle with illness. 

Despite being heartbroken, he produced a memorable performance and while his side lost, this champion young man proved he’s made of very, very tough stuff that day.

As passionate a Bathurst Panther as you’d find, Seager was knocked senseless in the 11^th minute of this year’s preliminary final against Orange Hawks, he didn’t return that day and looked a slim chance to be fit for the decider just seven days later.

But not only did he play, he starred in his side’s win, going on to claim the Dave Scott Medal for man-of-the-match.

Some effort, that.

It came back in a big way, even if only for a few fleeting moments at Mudgee’s Glen Willow Sporting Complex. Mudgee’s Jack Afamasafa and Oberon’s Josh Starling produced a stink worthy of any rugby league brouhaha highlights reel.

That’s not to say we’re condoning it, but the two bookends going toe-to-toe was certainly a throwback to yesteryear.

MELEE AT MUDGEE: Afamasaga banned, Starling free to play after Glen Willow ruckus

Running through a season without losing a game is the toughest box to tick in any sport, but Bathurst St Pat’s all-conquering league tag side managed just that in 2018, winning the title in an absolute canter.

After Group 10 romped to this year’s Western Women’s Rugby League premiership, the side has been split into three for the 2019 tournament. The Orange and Blayney-based Vipers are the headline side, with the Panorama Platypi and Mudgee Dragons the other two from the region.

Bathurst Panthers’ boom recruit made his presence felt in a big, big way in 2018, particularly in the clutch. First he ended Orange CYMS’ season with a field goal in the dying stages of the minor semi-final, and backed that up a week later by slotting a sideline goal to put his side ahead with three minutes to go in the decider. Not bad from a five-eighth no one knew anything about at the start of the season.

MAN OF THE MOMENT: Willie Wright makes good on promise to win it for captain-coach Hewitt

Could’ve done X-factor but that’s too obvious and cheesy, instead we’ve gone for the most underrated of all instruments, second only to the tambourine. 

Group 10’s 2018 season featured a landmark, the establishment of the under-18 league tag competition. It was a complete success, drawing plenty of players, with Orange Hawks going on to win the inaugural title.

Outside spicy, zesty is the best way to describe what should be an intriguing premiership race in 2019. The merry-go-round of player movements is already in full swing and, as it stands, it’s tougher than a broken nose to predict who’ll be the front-runners. Bring it on.