Welcome to The Footy Almanac’s coverage of the 2026 NRL season! This year we’ll be bigger, better and, possibly, longer than ever!
The serious games get underway this weekend with the annual Indigenous v Maori clashes in Hamilton, NZ featuring both men’s and women’s divisions. Then on 19th February the reigning NRL premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, travel to Hull in England for their World Club Challenge match with the Super League premiers, Hull Kingston Rovers. Round 1 of the NRL season proper commences with the Las Vegas spectacle in the early hours on March 1st. The remaining matches in that Round will be completed back in Australia at the end of that week. The season rolls on until the Grand Final on Sunday October 4. But there’s even more to come after that with the 2026 World Cup to be played in PNG, NZ and Australia from 15th October through to the final in Brisbane on 15th November. So it’s a 9-month season! Check the links provided at the end of this article to see the various draws, etc., including State of Origin.
We’re expanding our Almanac coverage of the code this year. Prop by the Sea and Rabbit in the Vineyard will return with their idiosyncratic coverages – Prop with his weekly review/preview approach along with sundry trivia, Rabbit with his South Sydney-centric look at the game. (I’m tempted to run a book on how many Rounds into the season we get before RITV launches one of his ‘Give me strength!’ comments. My guess is Round 4 at the latest.) The Prospector, who filled in for Prop for a while in 2025, has accepted an invitation to join our regular coverage. His weekly column, The Prospector’s Pickaxe, will focus more on the big issues facing the code along with issues du jour as they emerge from week to week. These three columns will appear each Thursday morning. I’ll provide more of an overview column on Wednesdays – no fixed agenda, the odd rave, perhaps a focus on a particular player or incident each week.
I’ll also continue my weekly newsletter/email to my ‘Rugby League Group’ which numbers around the 50 mark. In that email I provide links to our weekly RL columns as well as highlighting a weekly ‘little extra’ or two of non-RL items on the Almanac site that I think you need to read. If you’d like to be added to that email list, please contact me via the site at [email protected] .
The new season also means new Almanac Tipping Competitions covering both the NRL and the AFL. For all you need to know about those, click here.
Entries and payment for the NRL competition must be received before kick-off in Las Vegas, so that’s about midnight on Saturday 28th February AEDT. As usual, the deal is ‘no pay, not eligible for prizes’. You gotta be in it to win it, so join NOW! I made a late run for glory towards the end of the 2025 season but finished a couple points off the pace. Maybe this year!
First Big Story of the Season
It looks like Payne Haas is off to the Bunnies in 2027 after signing a three-year deal this week. The cooling off period is still in place but it looks like another case of ‘Wayne Bennett gets his man’. Quite a shock, but at least the first big headline is not a drugs/sex/booze scandal! I’ll be interested to hear what The Prospector has to say – a good one for him to get his teeth into first up. And will RITV be able to curb his enthusiasm?
Maori v Indigenous All Stars
We may have already had a few pre-season games but the real stuff starts with this annual fixture on Sunday afternoon. At this stage, the Maori All Stars lead the Indigenous All Stars by 4 wins to 3 since 2019 in the men’s competition while it’s 3 wins apiece in the women’s division.
There’s talent to burn in all four squads so it should be a great start to get things underway. Yes, a few key names are missing (eg, Latrell Mitchell again!) but with this much talent on display, they’ll just have to be exciting clashes.
Tipping the winners? Who cares, really? Let’s just hope that these games, promoted as a showpiece for the code, live up to their billing.
Check out the teams for both matches here.
A call for writers
Here at The Footy Almanac we’re always on the lookout for writers willing to ‘have a go’ at writing about footy – or anything and everything, for that matter. I’m keen to encourage you to take to your keyboard to review a match, comment on an issue, tell us about your favourite player, provide your take on a controversial incident, judge the judiciary, paint the picture of how you came to be a fan of the game, tell us how you ‘consume’ the game (live attendance, from the lounge chair, at the pub/club, from an exotic location), your pet hates about the way the game is played or the code is governed. Whatever you want! Just do it, as someone once said! Again, address contributions to us at [email protected] .
To read our library of rugby league stories click HERE.
To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.
To see the full 2026 season draw for the NRL click HERE.
To see the full 2026 season draw for the NRLW click HERE.
To see the details for State of Origin in 2026 click HERE.
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
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About Ian Hauser
A former teacher with a (very) modest sporting CV enjoying his retirement years. A Queenslander through and through, especially when it comes to cricket and rugby league. Enjoys travel, coffee and cake, reading, McWilliam's Cream Apera and a glass or three of wine. Footy Almanac's Thursday online editor who moonlights as a hobby editor.
Looking forward to the season Ian. My 5 yr old grandson is a very keen Raiders supporter (thanks to his dad) so I hope for his sake that the Green Machine emulate/better last years effort. My own loyalty is to a good quality game regardless of team colours or location.
Mid last year, I did suggest a rule change to the NRL but it hasn’t been taken up (yet). The change involved: on the 6th tackle there should be no grappling between opposing players for the ball to change possession. Instead, the player in possession on the 6th tackle should place the ball on the ground where the 6th tackle occurred and step back. An opposing team player may pick up the ball and wait for the referee to allow play to restart. I’ll be closely monitoring the ‘shenanigans’ that happen on the 6th tackle handover.
Yes, Karl, that’s an untidy area of the game that looks like spoilt school kids scrapping over a pack of lollies! It’s often used as a time waster to get the defensive line re-set. The game is not going to restart until the ref calls for the play the ball anyway. Bah, humbug!
Let’s see what areas the powers that be order the refs to police this year. Correct playing of the ball is one of my bugbears.
One of my bugbears is how long it takes a sin-binned player to exit the field. There’s a simple solution: set a time limit, and then if the player takes longer than the set limit, the sin-bin is changed to a send-off.
I also wish there would be punishments for trainers who enter the field just to waste time.
Without doubt Ian you are the Ben Bradley of All The Almanacs Men! Can’t wait for the season to start in earnest and looking forward to finding the formula to determine who will leap out of the pack in 26 to challenge the heavyweights
Classic comment, Prop, which leads to the follow-up question: Are you Woodward or Bernstein? And who is Deep Throat? There could be some fun and games with this one!
Given Woodward was structured – organised-serious- thorough – I am most probably not him! And we most probably need a ‘deepthroat’ from Almanac Land to provide us with snippets of information that require investigation.
Ah my fellow rugby league disciples, the All Stars games are on today, South Sydney’s reserve grade team beat the Dragons’ first grade team, with Matt Dufty (remember him?!) starring, and ‘a Latrell’ (IJH: not BLM) looking like a player of promise
Hakeem Haas at Redfern (sorry, Heffron, Maroubra) in 2027: this time last week, I was in utter shock.
Obviously, a big signing, however, to use one of the modern-day terms (“the spine”) – Souths’ spine moving forward – the hooker, half & 5/8th – needs “work” – surely 2026 is Cody Walker’s last in the NRL?!
Interesting times ahead !!
& who would have thought we’d ever see a connection between rugby league & Watergate? PVL might like it?