COMMENT WITH GERARD WALSH

THE Sunday afternoon Warwick Rodeo crowd witnessed the last ride on the back of a bull by Tooma cowboy Brad Pierce.

A former world rookie champion, Pierce said he was retiring from the bull ride as he had too much time out of the sport when he rode bulls.

He mentioned groin injuries and anyone who saw any of the bull riding at the weekend would understand that is one injury many bull riders would have to contend with.

The bad news for all riders aiming to win saddle bronc titles is Pierce is now going to concentrate on the saddle bronc. He split the saddle bronc average with Millmerran cowboy John McNamee at the weekend but McNamee won the title.

I saw from a distance McNamee pictured with his fan club after his win. There would have been 15 in the group. The presence of McNamee and Peter Moffatt in the saddle bronc finals would have attracted plenty of fans from Millmerran, a trip of an hour and a bit through Leyburn.

Well done to the eight finalists with a Warwick connection, all did their town proud.

One thing you can say about rodeos, the announcers never forget to tell you where the riders are from.

In one way, the local riders can feel extra pressure competing in front of a home crowd but roping star Mitch Eastwell just wants more.

The future

LAST week, I wrote about attracting sporting teams to the Southern Downs to train before the Commonwealth Games.

There was plenty of interest at the weekend when the sevens rugby Queensland and New South Wales teams played at Risdon and Briggs ovals.

One hopes it will be the first of many visits by sevens teams to the Southern Downs.

There was no complaint about the grounds, more interstate games were played than planned.

Well done to The Scots PGC College and Water Rats for putting the weekend on.