Write. From the Heart.
With the Festive Season upon us, we thought we’d reprise editor Ian Hauser’s ‘Christmas treats’ post from a couple years ago. Ian will be making his 2026 batch of rum balls in the coming days so that they’re suitably fermented in time for Christmas.
We all have ‘treats’ that go with our experience of Christmas. Ian Hauser shares a couple that have their roots in his childhood.
Just before we completely sign off from the rugby league season, here are some key dates for 2026, including the full season draw for both the NRL and the NRLW.
The 2025 rugby league season finally reached its conclusion with the third Ashes Test in Leeds and the Pacific Championships finals in Sydney. Ian Hauser provides the Almanac’s coverage.
In his retirement years, Andy Thurlow initiated a couple of community-based groups in Tanunda. The Sprocket Rockets is, not surprisingly, a cycling group. The Hugamug Club is more about coffee, cake and caring. This book features the stories of five of its members, all very different from each other but all bound by a common thread – their faith.
The Kangaroos won the Ashes and the Pacific Championships have two monster clashes on finals day on Sunday. In Cup week, Ian Hauser runs his eye over the rugby league form guide.
There’s still action aplenty happening in rugby league with the international season in full swing. Ian Hauser keeps you up with developments in both the Ashes series and the Pacific Championships.
The rugby league Ashes series, the first in over 20 years, begins this weekend while the Pacific Championships continues with Week 2 clashes. Ian Hauser offers his preview of a big weekend for ‘the greatest game of all’.
Rugby league’s 2025 Pacific Championships kick off this weekend with matches in Port Moresby and Auckland. Ian Hauser provides a preview.
The NRL season is done and dusted. Now let’s enjoy both an Ashes Tour and the Pacific Championships. Ian Hauser provides an introduction to the 2025 rugby league international season.
A few days down the track from his first thoughts on the Grand Final, Ian Hauser offers a few more observations before he signs off from the NRL season.
Ian Hauser has a million thoughts running around in his head after the Brisbane Broncos won both the NRLW and NRL titles last night. A few of those ideas escaped onto his keyboard early today.
Ian Hauser takes a look at the 2025 NRL Grand Final where the losing sides from the last two years, the Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos, get their chance to set the record straight. And in the NRLW, the two powerhouse teams of 2025, the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos, look set to put on a worthy season finale.
Ian Hauser remembers his Uncle Harold Bichel who played his one and only game for the Australian Kangaroos exactly ninety years ago today.
Our rugby league editor, Ian Hauser, keeps hearing the songs of Robert Palmer in the background as he contemplates Week 3 of the 2025 NRL finals series.
After an exhilarating Week 1 of NRL Finals, Ian Hauser explains why he thinks Canberra has what it takes to fight back in Week 2 while the Panthers will stay alive to fight another day.
Can Canberra defy history or will their huge loss in Round 27 simply become a footnote in the annals of NRL finals?
Patrick Skene had his first rugby league story published on The Footy Almanac in 2014. This week he presented the 26th Annual Tom Brock Lecture in Sydney, speaking about the history of rugby league in Papua New Guinea and their entry into the NRL in 2028.
Ian Hauser revisits a childhood favourite, Snakes and Ladders, as he sorts out what might happen in the NRL’s Round 27.
Is it ethical to rest players leading into the finals? Penrith has taken it to the extreme in this weekend’s NRL Round 26.
Ian Hauser is ‘just wild about Harry’ after the Melbourne captain’s stunning try to post a win over the Panthers. Meanwhile, the obstruction rule continues to cause confusion – and a bit of hypocrisy!
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