They were also competing against the popular Adelaide 36ers who played in the National Basketball League (NBL) which at the time ran a winter season.

In 1991, the St. George Dragons (whose primary sponsor since the mid-late 1970s had been Adelaide-based winery Penfolds) and Balmain Tigers match attracted 28,884 people, at the time the largest attendance for any rugby league game in South Australia (since beaten when 48,613 attended Game 1 of the 2023 State of Origin series at the Adelaide Oval).

Another leading factor in the SARL's decision to sign with SL was the promise of greater financial assistance than they were receiving from the ARL.

In early March 1996, the ARL were successful in gaining a federal court injunction, a legal ruling that prevented the Super League from beginning competition in 1996 and the Rams were put on hold causing Tim Pickup to stand down from his post in the ensuing months.

The club had appointed St. George Dragons international back rower Rod Reddy to be their inaugural coach, along with two-time NSWRL premiership-winning and former Kangaroo tour Hooker Kerrod Walters from the Brisbane Broncos to be the first captain of the team.

[4] The club played its first premiership match on 1 March against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville and, after leading 16–4 at half time, eventually lost 24–16.

Wrigley, and former South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Dragons fullback Rod Maybon, were the team's top try scorers with 5 each.

[4][8] In addition to the Telstra Cup, the Adelaide Rams also competed in Super League's 1997 World Club Championship competition.

As only one team from Australasia Pool B would go on to the Quarter finals, this meant that the Adelaide Rams did not advance past the group stage of the tournament.

The demise of three clubs from the Super League and ARL (Western Reds and Hunter Mariners (SL), and South Queensland Crushers (ARL)) saw some player re-shuffling (which saw 1997 Queensland representative Kevin Campion sensationally cut from the club after being told he was not in Rod Reddy's plans for the team), and brought New South Wales halfback Noel Goldthorpe, speedy winger Matt Daylight, and New Zealand national rugby league team test veteran back rower Tony Iro to the Adelaide club.

Reddy was replaced by former Perth Reds coach Dean Lance and mid-season saw the arrival of goal kicking Canberra Raiders utility back Graham Appo.

In June after numerous financial disagreements with the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) who at the time owned the Adelaide Oval, the club changed home grounds to the smaller, 16,500 capacity Hindmarsh Stadium, a soccer specific venue which was better suited to a rugby league field than the Adelaide Oval was.

[11] The club went on to win six of their last fourteen games after Lance's arrival, enough to avoid the wooden spoon awarded to the team finishing lowest on the competition ladder.

The Adelaide Rams last home game in the penultimate round of the season saw a 36–0 thrashing at the hands of the finals bound North Sydney Bears in front of 7,035 fans on 15 August 1998.

With little chance of securing a contract with another club just weeks before the start of the 1999 NRL season, the players were then placed in other News Ltd. owned or financed teams including Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne.

The cost of building and sustaining an uncompetitive rugby league team in an area dominated by another football sport had resulted in News Limited incurring heavy financial losses with the Rams.

[18] However, at the end of the 2008 NRL season, the league's Centenary year, the Sharks decided to concentrate on their home fans and were allowed out of their contract to play in Adelaide after just one game.

The ram was chosen, according to Super League chief executive John Ribot, because it was "readily identifiable with strength and hardness".

[9] The Rams' initial home ground was Adelaide Oval, a round park that had been used for cricket and Australian Rules Football for over a century.

The Rams final win came in Round 20 of the 1998 NRL season when they defeated the Auckland Warriors 22–20 at Hindmarsh Stadium in front of 7,445 fans.

The club's final ever home game in Round 23 of 1998 saw them go down 36–0 to the North Sydney Bears in front of 7,035 fans, the lowest recorded attendance at Hindmarsh.