1 week Ago By Lisa Rockman
State against state. Mate against mate. Man against bull.
Login or signup to continue reading This is State of Origin, but not as you know it. "The fiercest rivalry in Australian sport isn't just played out on the footy field - it rages in the rodeo arena too," says Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Australia managing director Glen Young. "Welcome to the PBR Monster Energy Origin Series, where the boys go head-to-head in the toughest test of skill, strength and sheer grit: professional bull riding.
"With nothing but eight seconds standing between glory and the dust, these boys ride for more than just personal victory - they ride for state pride." If you haven't been hurt riding bulls, you haven't been on enough bulls. That's a guarantee in the sport: you will get hurt.
It just never really worried me. Modelled after the State of Origin rugby league series, including the blue and maroon team colours, the three-part PBR Origin Series has become one of the highlights of the Professional Bull Riders Australia (PBRA) tour since its debut in 2019. Queensland has yet to lose an Origin Series and are, Young says, "pumped for back-to-back victories" while NSW are "keen to make their mark".
The PBR Origin Series plays a vital role in elevating the sport of bull riding in Australia, and is an important pathway for emerging riders to progress to the international stage. The 2025 Origin Series kicks off in Newcastle on May 3. Origin 2 is in Brisbane on June 7, and Origin 3 in Sydney on July 5.
So, what's at stake? Apart from pride, there's also a financial incentive. Each Origin event brings $50,000 in prize money, totalling $150,000 over the series. And, the Cowboy of Origin - the top performer across all three events - will score an extra $30,000 bonus.
The object of bull riding is relatively straightforward: the rider mounts the bull and tries to stay on its back for at least eight seconds, holding on to a rope with just one hand. The execution, though, is anything but. The bull bucks, twists, spins and kicks wildly in protest.
The judges give both the rider and the bull a score out of 50, taking into account the agility and speed of the bull and the element of difficulty it presents. Gresford bull rider Lachie Richardson has been appointed coach of a team of 10 NSW bull riders. He's a seven-time PBR World Finals qualifier, the 2012 PBR Australia Rookie of the Year, and one of the sport's most respected competitors.
Lachie comes from a family of bull riders and was just 10 years old when he rode his first calf, guided by his bull-riding uncle. His elder brother is former champion bull rider Cliff Richardson, and his younger brother Eric is a "protection athlete". Protection athletes are the people (who used to routinely dress up as clowns) who fearlessly run, duck and weave their way around the rodeo ring, putting themselves in harm's way to distract the bull from charging at (and potentially injuring) the rider after they dismount.
Lachie's game plan? Let the talent shine while ensuring his riders are mentally strong and ready to perform. "We don't talk. We ride.
Rest at the end, not in the middle," he says. His assistant coach is Singleton's Cody Heffernan, whose career highlights include two national championships in 2016 and 2022, riding bull Booger's Beach for 92 points to clinch the 2022 title. Queensland's coach, Jared Borghero, is from Beaudesert and has spent his life in the dirt .
.. first as a bull rider, then as one of the toughest protection athletes in the game.
He's a fourth-generation bull rider who has won the legendary Mount Isa Rodeo bull ride, the APRA Pro Tour title, and been named protection athlete of the year 13 times. His philosophy? Queenslanders don't just compete ..
. they dominate ("We are all one in the maroon sheds. We support each other, we fight for each other, and I have no doubt these boys will make Queensland proud again").
Lachie and Jared are mates. "Jared's a good guy," says Lachie. "He can't help that he's from Queensland.
" Lachie retired from competitive bull riding in 2024 to focus on his family. He and his wife Georgia have two children. Baby number three is due in May.
" It's an honour to be asked to coach Team NSW," he says. "Origin was always my favourite time of year, and now it's no different - except now I get to put my full focus on the team." Lachie now lives four hours north of Townsville and works on Georgia's family's cattle farm.
"Yeah, I live in Queensland these days, unfortunately. Don't hold it against me! I muck around with a few bucking bulls and I'm still involved with the PBR. I'm pretty busy, which is good," he says.
"My family still has some property around Gresford, that's where most of them live." Lachie competed on the US PBR circuit from 2012 to 2018, one of many talented Australian bull riders to throw their hat in the ring over the years. Qynn Anderson, Callum Miller, Brady Fielder and Ky Hamilton, to name just a few, have all been performing well over there in recent months.
The US competition is the pinnacle of the sport, attracting the best riders from all over the world. "I used to ride every weekend and during the week when I was in the States," Lachie says. "I'd ride 120 or 130 bulls a year in the US, it's all I did over there.
I had no other work, no family, I just travelled and rode bulls. I wanted to have a go at it while I could. "You can win $100,000 here or a million in America, so you go to America.
That's what everyone grows up wanting to do, that's what I did." Lachie reckons the sport has come a long way in Australia, "compared to what I remember growing up". "It's going really good.
You can make a living doing it here now as well. It used to be that if you weren't in the US you were doing it as a hobby, but that's changed now," he says. "Every year it just seems to get more and more money, they're packing out more stadiums .
.. it's probably doubled in the last 15 years.
" PBR has transformed bull riding into an international sport since its founding in 1992. More than 1000 riders compete on the PBR circuit at more than 200 events annually. In Australia, Professional Bull Riders Australia (PBRA) stages about 20 events each year, attracting more than 75,000 fans.
Lachie retired from competitive riding last year. He's matter-of-fact about why. "I wish I could do it forever but life's changed a bit for me, and I'm enjoying what I do at home," he says.
"I think my wife is quietly happy I'm no longer doing it." I ask what it is he loves about bull riding. "I don't know, it's hard to explain.
I guess you just get addicted to it," he replies. "It's definitely an adrenaline thing. You just crave more of it, and once you start, you're hooked.
"Then you make lifelong friends from it. I've met everyone from my best mate to my wife through PBR, it's a way of life. "It doesn't matter if you've ridden that same bull three times, it's a challenge every single time.
It's different every time, and that's why I worked so hard at it and put so much into it." He never worried about getting injured, he says, not even when his brother Cliff had his stomach torn open by a bull's horns and he lost his spleen. "If you haven't been hurt riding bulls, you haven't been on enough bulls," Lachie says.
"That's a guarantee in the sport: you will get hurt. It just never really worried me. "Everyone handles it differently.
I trained a lot on the mental side of things, I'd seen my buddy get hurt before me, and was able to block it out for eight seconds. "I'm not going to say it's easy, but I could always block it out. "I knew when I signed up that I was going to get hurt.
" As the newly-appointed NSW coach, is he daunted by Queensland's five-year winning streak? In a word, no. Lachie is using it to motivate the riders he's mentoring. "It's like anything, whoever puts the most into it is going to get the most out of it.
We just have to work at it," he says. "I'm not going to make any excuses, over the past few years our ducks haven't been in a row. We've had a strong team, but it just hasn't gone our way.
"We've been building, and building in the right direction." Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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