 | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Mackay Cutters Rugby League Football Club |
| Colours | Primary: Maroon Blue Secondary: Blue White |
| Founded | 2007; 18 years ago (2007) |
| Website | mackaycutters.com.au |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
|
| Chairman | Steve Dowden |
| Coach | Adam Cuthbertson |
| Captain | Sean Mullany |
| Competition | Hostplus Cup |
| 2024 season | 10th |
 Current season | |
| Records | |
| Premierships (2nd grade) | 1 (2013) |
| Wooden spoons (2nd grade) | 3 (2009, 2016, 2018) |
| Most capped | 125 – Liam Taylor |
| Highest points scorer | 843 – Liam Taylor |
TheMackay Cutters are a semi-professionalrugby league football club based inMackay,Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, theQueensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007, alongside theNorthern Pride, and first competed in the 2008 season.[1]
Since 2008, the club has appeared in two finals series, winning the Grand Final in 2013.[2] The team's management headquarters and home ground,Stadium Mackay, currently known asBB Print Stadium due to sponsorship rights, is located in the suburb ofSouth Mackay.
Along with the Pride andTownsville Blackhawks, the Cutters are affiliated with theNational Rugby League'sNorth Queensland Cowboys.
Prior to the Cutters entry into theQueensland Cup in 2008, Mackay rugby league's only representation in the statewide competition was theMackay Sea Eagles, who played in the inaugural season in 1996 before withdrawing from the competition. In September 2007, the Mackay Cutters andNorthern Pride were granted provisional entry into the Queensland Cup for the 2008 season.[3] On 7 December 2007, their entry into the competition was confirmed by theQueensland Rugby League.[4]
FormerNorth Queensland Cowboys andParramatta Eels five-eighthShane Muspratt was announced as captain-coach for the Cutters' inaugural season.[5] Among the first recruits to the club were formerQueensland State of Origin representativeJohn Doyle,Jamie McDonald,Luke Young andAdam Schubert.[6][7] Doyle would not play a game for the Cutters, retiring due to consistent knee injuries in January 2008.[8]
The Cutters endured a rough two first seasons under Muspratt, finishing 9th in 2008 and last in 2009. The Cutters first ever game was a 16–44 loss to rivals theNorthern Pride. Their first ever win came in Round 5, when they defeated theRedcliffe Dolphins 24–22 atDolphin Oval.[9] The 2009 season started strongly with three straight wins before a run of nine straight losses sunk them to the bottom of the table. They finished with thewooden spoon due to points differential.[10]
In 2010, formerSouths Logan Magpies andQueensland Residents coach Paul Bramley joined the club, leading the Cutters to the finals for the first time.[11] They finished sixth, and eliminated the third-placedSunshine Coast Sea Eagles before being knocked out by theNorths Devils, one game short of the Grand Final.[12]
Bramley left the Cutters at the end of the 2010 season to join theBurleigh Bears and was replaced byAnthony Seibold, who led theSouth Wales Scorpions to promotion a year earlier. Former Cowboys andNew Zealand Warriors halfbackGrant Rovelli also joined the club permanently from the Cowboys and was named captain for the 2011 season.[13] Also in 2011, after playing out of local junior rugby league grounds for three seasons, the Cutters moved to the newly built 12,200 seatStadium Mackay. The first game at the new stadium was a 14–16 loss to theEasts Tigers in Round 20 of the 2011 season.[14]
Under Seibold, the Cutters missed the finals in both 2011 and 2012, with Seibold leaving to coach theMelbourne Stormunder-20 side in 2013.[15]
In 2013, Kim Williams, a formerMelbourne StormSG Ball Cup coach, joined the club and led the Cutters' to their most successful season despite a number of difficult setbacks. On 28 April 2013, just hours after a 22–22 draw with theTweed Heads Seagulls, Cowboys-contracted hookerAlex Elisala was found unconscious and not breathing after jumping from a hotel balcony. He died in hospital the following day.[16] In honour of Elisala, the Cutters retired his number 14 jersey for the rest of the season.[17] Despite the tragedy, the Cutters pushed forward and finished the season in second on the ladder.[18] In Week 1 of the finals, they suffered a 18–31 loss to theEasts Tigers before bouncing back to defeat theIpswich Jets andNorthern Pride to qualify for their first Grand Final and set up a rematch with Easts.[19]
On 28 September 2013, the Cutters defeated Easts 27–20 in the Grand Final atNorth Ipswich Reserve to claim their maiden Queensland Cup premiership.[2] The side that day featured five contracted-Cowboys players;Michael Morgan,Kalifa Faifai Loa,Sam Hoare,Anthony Mitchell andJason Taumalolo, with Mitchell winning the Duncan Hall Medal for man of the match.[20]
The Cutters could not defend their premiership in 2014, losing six of their Grand Final winning side toNRL clubs and finishing in ninth place.[21] In 2015, Williams final year as head coach, the club missed the finals once again, finishing in eighth. Following the 2015 season, Williams became the head coach of theCentral Queensland Capras.[22]
2016 proved to be a disastrous year for the Cutters, as they finished the season with their second wooden spoon. On 23 June 2016, new head coach David Simpson left the club after 14 games, in which the club won just one game. He was replaced by Jim Wilson, who served as interim head coach for the rest of the season.[23][24] Despite the poor year, Cowboys-contracted hookerJosh Chudleigh became the first Cutters player to win the Courier Mail Medal for Queensland Cup Player of the Year and was named at hooker in the 2016 Team of the Year.[25]
On 8 August 2016,North Queensland Cowboysunder-20s assistant coach Steve Sheppard, was appointed as head coach of the Cutters on a two-year deal.[26] During Sheppard's three seasons at the helm, the club failed to make the finals, finishing 8th in 2017, last in 2018 and 11th in 2019.[27] On 30 August 2019, the club announced that Sheppard would leave the club at the end of the 2019 season.[28]
On 3 October 2019, veteranNRL assistant coach Michael Crawley was announced as the new Cutters head coach, signing a two-year deal. He had previously worked as an assistant at theCanberra Raiders,North Queensland Cowboys andNewcastle Knights.[29]
In August 2021, Crawley announced his departure from the club after two years, joining theCanberra Raiders, withTownsville Blackhawks U21s head coach Dave Elliott named as his replacement.[30]
| Competition | Games Played | Games Won | Games Drawn | Games Lost | Ladder Position | P | R | M | F | W | Coach | Captain(s) | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 9 / 11 | Shane Muspratt | ||||||||
| 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 12 / 12 | ♦ | Jardine Bobongie | |||||||
| 22 (2) | 11 (1) | 1 | 10 (1) | 6 / 12 | ♦ | Paul Bramley | |||||||
| 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 9 / 12 | Anthony Seibold | Grant Rovelli | |||||||
| 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 8 / 12 | |||||||||
| 22 (4) | 14 (3) | 2 | 6 (1) | 2 / 12 | ♦ | ♦ | Kim Williams | Jardine Bobongie,Joel Clinton | |||||
| 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 9 / 13 | |||||||||
| 23 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 8 / 14 | Chris Gesch, Liam Taylor | ||||||||
| 23 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 14 / 14 | ♦ | David Simpson / Jim Wilson | Brenden Treston | ||||||
| 23 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 8 / 14 | Steve Sheppard | Andrew Davey,Setaimata Sa | |||||||
| 23 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 14 / 14 | ♦ | Tom Murphy | |||||||
| 23 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 11 / 14 | Cooper Bambling | ||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | N/A[31] | Michael Crawley | ||||||||
| 17 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 12 / 14 | Ross Bella |
The Cutters' current coach, Adam Cuthbertson, is their 11th in club history. Kim Williams is their longest serving and most successful coach.
| No | Coach | Tenure | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Muspratt | 2008–2009 | 42 | 14 | 2 | 26 | 33.3% |
| 2 | Paul Bramley | 2010 | 24 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 50% |
| 3 | Anthony Seibold | 2011–2012 | 44 | 18 | 1 | 25 | 40.9% |
| 4 | Kim Williams | 2013–2015 | 73 | 38 | 3 | 32 | 52.1% |
| 5 | David Simpson | 2016 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7.1% |
| 6 | Jim Wilson | 2016 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 33.3% |
| 7 | Steve Sheppard | 2017–2019 | 69 | 21 | 3 | 45 | 30.4% |
| 8 | Michael Crawley | 2020–2021 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 22.2% |
| 9 | Dave Elliott | 2022–2022 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 40% |
| 10 | Michael Comerford | 2023-2024 | 40 | 10 | 4 | 26 | 25% |
| 11 | Adam Cuthbertson | Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
On 2 November 2007, theDaily Mercury unveiled the Cutters logo after holding a promotion inviting people to submit designs for the club's first crest. The winning design was submitted by Ashley Hanson ofTownsville and was selected by Cutters' management from over 50 submissions.[32]
Biggest Wins
| Margin | Opponent | Score | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | Norths Devils | 52–4 | Bishop Park | 25 June 2017 |
| 42 | Burleigh Bears | 46–4 | Stadium Mackay | 18 July 2015 |
| 40 | Ipswich Jets | 52–12 | North Ipswich Reserve | 26 March 2022 |
Biggest Losses
| Margin | Opponent | Score | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | Ipswich Jets | 0–54 | BB Print Stadium | 6 July 2018 |
| 52 | Ipswich Jets | 10–62 | North Ipswich Reserve | 2 August 2014 |
| 50 | Souths Logan Magpies | 10–60 | BB Print Stadium | 24 April 2022 |
Most Consecutive Wins
Most Consecutive Losses
Most Games for Club
Most Tries for Club
Most tries in a match
Most Goals in a Match
Most Points in a Match
Most Tries in a Season
Most Points in a Season
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