Moranbah Bulldogs are set to field an AFL Mackay reserves side for the first time in a decade
After a decade of absences from Mackay’s senior Aussie rules competition, Moranbah will once again field a reserves side in 2025. Their president reveals how it all came about.
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For the first time in many years, Moranbah Bulldogs will feature in AFL Mackay’s men’s competition, with the league signing off on a Bulldogs reserve side for 2025.
According to club president Wes Maurer, the Dogs last fielded a men’s Aussie rules side in “around 2013/14” with the resurgence coming at a symbolic time for the community.
“It’s a special time for the club with it being our 50-year anniversary, so for this to happen now is pretty cool,” Maurer said.
“(The last men’s team) was before my time out here at the club.”
Moranbah, a small mining town of around 10,000 people in a rugby league region, hadn’t been able to find the 40-50 players required to consistently field a senior and reserves team, but AFL Mackay came through with an opportunity for them to just field a reserves side.
“You can imagine in the little town of Moranbah, trying to find enough players to field a competitive senior side is very difficult,” Maurer said.
“We approached AFL Mackay, and they allowed us to just run a reserves side. We’ve got players of a variety of age groups and talent levels that want to play.
“Numbers-wise we’re pretty confident, we may have to play some of our under-17s lads up, but that’s pretty standard for most teams in the Mackay competition.”
The Dogs are coming off a very successful 2024 campaign across the board, with their under-14s and under-17s side claiming their respective premierships, while their senior women’s team bowed out in the preliminary final.
Moranbah’s reserves season kicks off on March 29 with an away fixture at Bakers Creek’s Etwell Park.
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