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 Noosa-based retiree with a (very) modest sporting CV. 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.