A Mackay local will lay it all on the line this weekend working as a protection athlete at the final stage of the 2022 PBR Monster Energy Tour Origin Series in Brisbane.
Shane “Maddog” Simpson returned from an eight-year retirement last year and is back on the big stage this Saturday ensuring both rider and bull leave the arena safely.
Retiring after a decorated bullfighting and protection athlete career, Shane said he was at a bull riding event in Townsville recently when the urge to return hit him.
“I got a bit emotional about it because it’s been part of my life for so long and I thought to myself ‘You know what? I think you can still do it,’” he said.
After four months of preparation, Shane had his body ready for action.
The role of a protection athlete is to ensure the riders complete their ride safely and get out of the pen without injury, as does the bull.
He says knowing a bit about cattle and how they operate is a vital part of the role, as well as looking after your body.
“If you’re eating right and feeling good and the body’s feeling good, well, it all should fall together for you,” he said.
Shane started bull riding while working with cattle in the gulf country in the early 90s.
Participating in rodeos and camp drafts on weekends, Shane slowly progressed to bigger and better events until Australian bull riding legend and PBR World Champion Troy Dunn invited him to ride in Australia’s first major bull riding event in Mackay.
“Mackay, to put the first major bull riding event on the map, it was a real honour to do it, being my hometown,” he said.
Bull riding has taken Shane as far as America, Canada, and Mexico, and he says fighting bulls in the world finals in 2008 was his career highlight.
“As any bullfighter that’s on that sort of level, that’s their goal, to be able to fight bulls at the world finals because it’s the most elite stage you can fight on,” he said.
Shane is heading to Brisbane on the weekend, thanks to his sponsor Deftec, for the deciding round of the 2022 PBR Monster Energy Tour Origin Series.
Modelled after the rugby league concept, Queensland and New South Wales are all tied up after rounds in Newcastle and Tamworth.
Shane says both teams are pumped but he’ll be supporting the boys from the sunshine state.
“I’ll be backing the QLD boys because I’m born and bred in Queensland,” he said.
Shane “Maddog” Simpson is heading to Brisbane on Saturday as a protection athlete at the 2022 PBR Monster Energy Tour Origin Series
Brisbane hosts the deciding round of the Origin Series after rounds in Newcastle and Tamworth. Photos: supplied
