Rockhampton Invitational: High-Stakes Matchups and the race for PBR Origin

 

The PBR Australia Monster Energy Tour returns to where it all began this weekend for the 2025 Rockhampton Invitational inside the Great Western Hotel.

Riders will not only be fighting it out for points and prize money in the Beef Capital. This event also serves as one of the final opportunities for riders to qualify for the Queensland and New South Wales teams for the PBR Origin Series, which kicks off in Newcastle next month.

The competition will begin in ‘The Arena’ at 7:30 p.m. AEST on Friday, 4th May 2025 and continue from 7:00 p.m. AEST on Saturday, 5th May 2025.

The sport's future stars will also be in action this weekend, with PBR Australia’s Can-Am Junior Academy kicking off at 1:00 p.m. AEST on Saturday, 5th May 2025.

Tickets are available from the PBR Australia website.

Event History

The past winners list for events held in Rockhampton reads like a who's who of Australian bull riding, but we will start in the 2023 season when the Monster Energy Tour visited the Great Western Hotel three times.

Current World No. 2 ranked Brady Fielder kicked his season off with a 2-for-3 performance at the December event. In Round 1, he picked up 83.5 points aboard Darryl Lee (Keliher Bucking Bulls), and in Round 2, he teamed up with After Dark (MJ/Keliher Bucking Bulls) for 84 points. The Clermont talent survived a scoreless Championship Round to claim his second career Rocky PBR win.

Macaulie Leather recorded back-to-back wins inside the Western at the May and September events on his way to being crowned the 2023 PBR Australian National Champion.

After bucking off his Round 1 bull at the May event, the Calliope cowboy won Round 2 aboard Mimi (Dunne Bulls). He then became the first rider to cover Feldt Jacket (MJ/Keliher/Feldt Partnership), scoring 87 points to win the Championship Round.

Leather was again down early in the opening round in September, but he bounced back strong with a dominant 84.5-point ride aboard Footloose (Kleier Bucking Bulls) in Round 2. He then jumped from fourth place to first thanks to an 85.5-point ride aboard Superlicious (Wallace Bucking Bulls) in the final round.

In 2024, we saw Diego Galdino score his maiden PBR win with a perfect 3-for-3 performance. The Brazilian covered Footloose (Kleier Bucking Bulls) for 80.5 points and Lightning (CF7 Bucking Bulls) for 84 points in the long rounds. In the Championship Round, he combined with Ambush (CF7 Bucking Bulls) for 88 points in one of the best bull rides we witnessed all season.

Format, Prizemoney and Points

Thirty-four cowboys will battle it out this weekend for $20,000 in prize money.

Friday night features Round 1 of the competition, and the event will conclude on Saturday with Round 2 and the Championship Round.

There will be 320 points up for grabs towards the 2025 PBR Australian National Standings. Round winners will pick up 40 points each, with the event champion picking up 200 points in the race to qualify for the 2025 PBR Australia Grand Finals in Townsville.

Watch all the action on the PBR Australia Live Stream page from 7:30 p.m. AEST on Friday and 7:00 p.m. AEST on Saturday.

Who to Watch

Round 1 features a strong pen of bucking bulls with short-go calibre athletes littered throughout the draw. There don't appear to be too many favourable matchups for the cowboys, so they must capitalise on any opportunities that fall their way this weekend. The riders covered just 4 of the 32 bulls in the corresponding round last season, and we could see a repeat here.

We should see some high bull scores awarded and a handful of above-average qualified rides recorded.

No. 5 ranked Matheus Lima Rodrigues has gone 3-from-8 since arriving in Australia, and the 22-year-old will lead us away in the opening round. He has drawn Evil Eyes (Kleier Bucking Bulls), who was ridden for 84.5 points in his last two outs of the 2024 PBR season. Both scores went the way of left-handed riders, which bodes well for the Brazilian bull rider. The bull does prefer to start spinning to the right initially, but he can mix things up as the clock progresses.

Rookie of the Year contender Thomas Triplett has impressed me with his performances this season. Hard work has been paying off for the 19-year-old, recording three top-5 finishes from four starts to sit 4th in the National Standings. Triplett will go against Revolver (Dunne Bulls) early in the round. This bull has only been covered once from nine trips on tour, and he will likely turn back to the left away from the Bungundarra talent's right riding hand.

Holding down the No. 8 spot in the standings is Jack Rowlandson, who has covered four bulls from ten attempts to begin his season. His opponent is Billy Badlands (TLM Contracting). The bull is making his debut on tour, but I have seen him buck a few times on social media. He bucks at a good tempo and will turn back to the right and away from the 27-year-old Oberon cowboy's riding hand.

Kurt Shephard won back-to-back Touring Pro Division events at Bendigo and Lardner in March and took over as Australia's No. 1 ranked bull rider. Rockhampton has been a happy hunting ground for the Mareeba veteran, recording three event wins plus six top-5 results from thirteen starts across his career. Shephard faces 2024 Bucking Bucking Bull of the Year Mr T (Dittmann Bucking Bulls) in the opening round. This bull prefers to turn back to the right, and just one left-handed bull rider has been able to make the whistle from eleven attempts.

Another bull rider with three career victories in Rockhampton is the seventh-ranked rider in the country, Macaulie Leather. The Calliope cowboy has ridden 10-from-24 at the venue, with five scores good enough to take the round win. Leather has had a relatively slow start to the season, but he looks to be building. He gets a rematch with On Bail (MJ/Keliher Bucking Bulls) in Round 1. They met up at Origin II in Brisbane last season, with the bull winning in 4.15 seconds during his run of 19 buck-offs through the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Expect the bull to turn back away from his left riding hand once again.

After missing the Touring Pro Division event last weekend at Ladner Park, Ben Bode slipped back a spot to second in the National Standings, but he will be aiming to regain the top spot this weekend. The Calliope young gun has drawn Bad Juju (TLM Contracting). This bull is on debut and, like his penmate above, looks like he will be out and around to the right. That will put him away from Bode's hand, although this looks to be one of the more rider-friendly matchups of the round.

Take a look at the Daysheet for Friday and Saturday.

Stay tuned to PBRAustralia.com.au and follow the tour on Facebook (PBR Australia) and Instagram (@PBRAustralia) for the latest results, news, stats and more.