Sport
18 June, 2025
Wanderers, Townies set for sixth straight decider
Both coaches are hoping the best is yet to come in this year's Mount Isa Rugby League season.
This year’s Mount Isa Rugby League season might be remembered for all of the wrong reasons, but the two remaining senior clubs are hoping to end it on a high note.
By any measurement, 2025 has been a dark period for rugby league in the mining city.
The men’s competition went from three teams to two, while the women’s competition folded completely.
However, Sunday’s decider between Wanderers and Town – the sixth straight year the two clubs have met in the grand final – could be the catalyst for the sport’s revival in 2026 and beyond.
That’s the hope of coaches Tim O’Sullivan and John Doyle, two passionate footy figures in Mount Isa who are desperate to see the sport get back on its feet and return to a competition that is respected far and wide.
It’s no coincidence that rugby league is struggling at the same time the city is going through a rough patch.
Player availability is perhaps the biggest challenge for the clubs. On Sunday, in the final game of the regular season, Wanderers took to the field with just 10 men against a Town side with 13 on the field and several more on the bench.
It looked like it was going to be a long day at the office for the Devils when Townies scored in the opening 40 seconds, but remarkably the men in blue and yellow rallied hard.
They scored the next three tries to be up 18-4, leaving Town both startled and embarrassed.
Eventually, the weight of numbers took its toll and Town was able to put the foot down and score a comfortable win.
But the 70-46 scoreline gives Wanderers hope of lifting the trophy on Sunday.
“We’ve got a heap of blokes on the same shift roster, so every two weeeks we are down on numbers,” O’Sullivan said.
“The week before we had 20 available, but we had no referee so there was no game.
“We’re confident we’ll have a full squad – or close to it – for the grand final.”
The long-time coach praised the attitude of his players, both for the season and on Sunday.
“Their attitude and effort ... it was a pretty brave effort,” said O’Sullivan, who hinted that this could be his last game as the coach of Wanderers.
“If you told me that we’d have 10 players on the field and we’d score 46 points against a full-strength side, I probably would have taken it before the game.
“The boys, they just showed up for one another.”
O’Sullivan praised the game of his captain Pekz Brown, who played a blinder in the halves.
“I reckon he’s probably had his best game of the year, to be honest.
“He controlled the game well, he controlled the field position well, and he ran the ball probably the most he’s ever done in the last two seasons.
“I think he showed that he can be more dangerous as a running option in the halves.”
Doyle conceded that his team didn’t play their best against an undermanned Wanderers, but said it was hard to get motivated against a 10-man opposition.
“I was pretty harsh on them after the game and told them that we needed to be focused on what we can control,” he told North West Weekly.
“The positive is I think we are going to get a very good grand final on Sunday.
“What I’m looking forward to most is they’re going to have their best 20 and we’ll have our best 20 on the park. That’s not something we’ve seen this year.
“I’m feeling like it’s going to be a really good arm wrestle and it’ll be about who wants it more and who has got more pride in themselves and their performance to sustain that arm wrestle.
“We’ll have a genuine, good, hard game of footy.”
Doyle conceded that it could be the last Mount Isa Rugby League A-grade decider in the short-term, but insisted that the future of the sport was still bright.
“It’s a tough period now but there’s a really good junior program in place and we’ll see the benefits of that soon.
“We are developing the players’ skills, but most importantly, their attitudes.”
Sunday’s grand final between Town and Wanderers begins at 3.30pm at Alec Inch Oval.