A CHANCE holiday down under has proved a life-changing experience for Anna Bay rugby journeyman Ross Buchan. When Scotsman Ross followed best buddies Tommy Hart and Ross Aitken across the continent to Nelson Bay Rugby Club for a brief playing stint his world changed forever. Twelve years down the track, the 34-year-old hooker forward stands […]

STEVE Simpson was a true rugby league warrior during an illustrious career with the Newcastle Knights. The former international and NSW Origin forward never took a backward step and proved to be an iron man and enforcer in the Knights’ premiership-winning 2001 NRL team. As a rookie first-grade coach with the Northern Hawks club in […]

MEDOWIE iron girl Scarlet Christie is making every post a winner in her chosen sport of Australian Rules Football. The gifted Hunter River High School student has continued her meteoric rise with selection in the All Australian Schools AFL under-14 Merit squad – one of the most prestigious honours for a young athlete. It is […]

NELSON Bay Marlins AFL Club boast an inspirational leader in legendary full forward Wayd Blackburne. The on-field warrior celebrated his 225 match milestone with a three-goal haul in the Marlins resounding 89-17 victory over Cardiff Hawks last Saturday in AFL Hunter Central Coast Black Diamond Senior Mens Cup action at Dick Burwell Oval. It was […]

ANNA Bay’s decorated international touch football referee Sam Clark has taken on an exciting new role with NSW Touch Football (NSWTF). The experienced referee coach and Panel member has been appointed the new NSWTF Referees Director in an important leadership transition within its refereeing community. She replaces long-serving Referees Director Ian Matthew who has stepped […]

MEMBER for Port Stephens Kate Washington has taken a liking to the fast-growing sport of pickleball. The athletic local member was a special participant at a recent Port Stephens Pickleball Club Skills and Drills Day event at the Tomaree Sports Complex netball courts, and passed the test with flying colours. She joined 40 players from […]

COMPLETING 17 competitive matches at the three-day NSW State Senior Netball championships is no easy task. Nelson Bay’s talented 17-years girls representative team achieved the feat at the Baulkham Hills Netball complex in Sydney back in June and returned home with a top four ranking. In a huge honour for the local association, the squad […]

SALAMANDER Bay athletics sensation Anna Taylor has bolstered her Commonwealth Youth Games credentials with gold medal winning feats at the Hunter Secondary Schools Athletics Championships at Glendale’s Hunter Sports Centre. The emerging 15-year-old track and field star was part of a talented crop of Port Stephens junior athletes to stamp their mark at last week’s […]

THE Northern Hawks’ first-grade rugby league team has crashed out of finals reckoning in this year’s Newcastle Rugby League Denton Engineering Cup. In a topsy-turvy 2026 campaign that offered plenty, Steve Simpson’s charges won’t figure in the big end-of-season matches after their disappointing 26-14 loss to second ranked South Newcastle Lions at Lakeside Sporting Complex […]