Rugby league has been re-ignited in the far north-west, with the Battle of the Gulf Cluster pitting Burketown, Doomadgee, Normanton, Kowanyama and Mornington Island teams against each other over 10 rounds.
The competition has had a successful start, with Burketown, Doomadgee, Normanton and Kowanyama all playing their first games in Round 1, while Mornington Island had a bye.
Burketown handled Doomadgee by 10 points to win 24-10, while Normanton completed a shutout of Doomadgee, laying on 34 points from eight tries.
The success of Round 1 of the Battle of the Gulf represents a re-kindling of rugby league in the area, where the popular sport has been idle for some time according to QRL Northern Division Manager Scott Nosworthy.
"This is the first time in many years that some of the teams, including Mornington and Burketown have competed in a QRL sanctioned competition," Nosworthy said.
"Mornington players have to take at two-plus hour boat trip and a two-hour bus trip just to get to Normanton."
"Burketown, Doomadgee and Kowanyama also have to travel for two-to-three hours on bumpy roads to participate, but rugby league is the number one sport in the Gulf and the players took this opportunity to play in it."
The competition has been brought together with the help of numerous sponsors, and the cooperation of all five teams.
Given the tyranny of distance that organising sport in this region can suffer from, it makes the competition all the more of an achievement according to Nosworthy.
"This could not be done without the support of many organisations in those communities," he said.
"Bevan Owens and his loyal team from the Normanton Stingers have worked extremely hard to create this competition since they withdrew from the Mt Isa competition.
"Normanton had been very successful in the Mt Isa competition, but the 10-hour round bus trip made it difficult to continue on a week in week out basis."
"Congratulations to all communities and to those who have taken the lead to make sure it got off the ground."
The games were refereed by Sorren Owens and Joel Ah Kit, while others committed their time to the effective running of the competition.
"Ian Kearton and Renae Kunst were also in attendance for the inaugural round of the Cluster Competition with Ian officiating in three games and Renae running a line and helping where required," Nosworthy said.
