Mackay Cutters

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# Mackay Cutters The Mackay Cutters are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Mackay, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007, alongside the Northern 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 as BB Print Stadium due to sponsorship rights, is located in the suburb of South Mackay. Along with the Pride and Townsville Blackhawks, the Cutters are affiliated with the National Rugby League's North Queensland Cowboys. Prior to the Cutters entry into the Queensland Cup in 2008, Mackay rugby league's only representation in the statewide competition was the Mackay Sea Eagles, who played in the inaugural season in 1996 before withdrawing from the competition. In September 2007, the Mackay Cutters and Northern 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 the Queensland Rugby League.[4] Former North Queensland Cowboys and Parramatta Eels five-eighth Shane Muspratt was announced as captain-coach for the Cutters' inaugural season.[5] Among the first recruits to the club were former Queensland State of Origin representative John Doyle, Jamie McDonald, Luke Young and Adam 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 the Northern Pride. Their first ever win came in Round 5, when they defeated the Redcliffe Dolphins 24–22 at Dolphin 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 the wooden spoon due to points differential.[10] In 2010, former Souths Logan Magpies and Queensland 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-placed Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles before being knocked out by the Norths Devils, one game short of the Grand Final.[12] Bramley left the Cutters at the end of the 2010 season to join the Burleigh Bears and was replaced by Anthony Seibold, who led the South Wales Scorpions to promotion a year earlier. Former Cowboys and New Zealand Warriors halfback Grant 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 seat Stadium Mackay. The first game at the new stadium was a 14–16 loss to the Easts 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 the Melbourne Storm under-20 side in 2013.[15] In 2013, Kim Williams, a former Melbourne Storm SG 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 the Tweed Heads Seagulls, Cowboys-contracted hooker Alex 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 the Easts Tigers before bouncing back to defeat the Ipswich Jets and Northern 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 at North 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 and Jason 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 to NRL 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 the Central 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 hooker Josh 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 Cowboys under-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, veteran NRL 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 the Canberra Raiders, North Queensland Cowboys and Newcastle Knights.[29] In August 2021, Crawley announced his departure from the club after two years, joining the Canberra Raiders, with Townsville Blackhawks U21s head coach Dave Elliott named as his replacement.[30] The Cutters' current coach, Adam Cuthbertson, is their 11th in club history. Kim Williams is their longest serving and most successful coach. On 2 November 2007, the Daily 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 of Townsville and was selected by Cutters' management from over 50 submissions.[32] Biggest Wins Biggest Losses 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