The town of Oakey has a population of around 4000 people and sits 30km outside Toowoomba in South East Queensland.
They've been playing rugby league in Oakey for not too much short of a century, winning four premierships, the last one in 1999.
This current century has been a tough one for the Oakey Bears. They last played finals in 2011 and then again 2012. Since then, it's been a diet of wooden spoons and the occasional win or two in a good year.
Things hit rock bottom in 2016, when they lost a match 108-1, and then a matter of weeks later, they were kicked out of the competition due to worries over finances, results and a few other things.
In April 2025, the club had kicked on a little thanks to the appointment of a high-profile coach and some strong signings, including former Titans, Broncos and Warriors star Ash Taylor.
But days before the 2025 competition was due to kick-off, the profiled coach left the club suddenly. That was enough for Ash to feel the need to tentatively step into the hot seat as player-coach.
Fast forward seventeen months, and the Bears are in their first finals series for 14 years and the town has come alive with joy, the scale of which would blow any neutral observers away.
“It's been great at Oakey. Since retiring from the NRL I have struggled to find something I love, but I love this” Taylor told the Courier Mail last weekend.
This is a bloke (a bit like Lachie Galvin now) who was once described as the next superstar of rugby league. At just 22, Taylor signed a $3 million, three-year deal with the Gold Coast Titans.
He won the Dally M Rookie of the Year in 2016, ahead of Nathan Cleary, and was being talked about as one of the game's great young halves.
Then came the other side of professional sport.
The “million-dollar man” tag that was once a compliment became a millstone. Injuries, enormous expectations, declining confidence, mental-health struggles and a gambling addiction all contributed to a career that ultimately ended at just 27 after one game for the New Zealand Warriors.
He struggled to walk after games, needed double hip replacement surgery and there were times when he couldn't even play with his young children because the pain was so bad.
But now, he's coaching the Oakey Bears. And he is bloody happy.
I know Ash's story particularly well because, for the past two years, I've had the privilege of being his coaching mentor. And we've hit it off like a house on fire.
Ash is a great student of the game, I analyse games with him, we have weekly conversations about coaching, players, sessions, tactics and, often, all the things that have absolutely nothing to do with a football play.
Because coaching isn't just about drawing up a game plan. It's about people. And Ash is naturally good at that part. Keeping the team together through some teething problems in 2025 in particular.
Oakey won five straight games to finish this regular season to qualify for the semis.
Then came Saturday night.
The Bears knocked out the back-to-back premiers in a nail-biting elimination final.
And in a huge sense of irony, it was the same opponent that had beaten Oakey 108-1 in 2016, which also happened to be the same opponent that had beaten them 50-0 in Round One this year.
The town went absolutely crazy. The crowd was thought to be the biggest in Oakey's memorable history; several spectating adults and club members were crying tears of joy at the end.
These are people who had spent years watching their local club struggle; now suddenly they had something to celebrate.
That is what rugby league can do.
And that's why I get increasingly frustrated when we talk about the future of rugby league as though it begins and ends with the NRL.
I've spent years travelling around country and regional communities working with players and coaches. In my work I've been to so many communities where rugby league isn't just something that happens on the weekend. Rugby league is part of the identity of the place.
But the people running these clubs don't have the resources that metropolitan clubs have.
Their juniors don't get scouted as much; they don't have the advantage of endless coaching support networks and they can't recruit senior players without going above and beyond.
Often, they have a volunteer coach who has worked a full day, driven home, changed clothes and then gone to training to try to help a group of players become better.
And yet we expect these clubs to keep producing players, coaches, referees and supporters for the professional game, while the city areas become ever stronger, sometimes at the expense of the Bush.
It doesn't always require a multimillion-dollar strategy. It is remarkably simple. A little something will go a long way in these communities.
This is a view shared by Tallon Smith, of “Battlers for Bush Footy”.
"A major source of frustration among a number of bush footy clubs and competitions last year was the decision to put NRL finals on Sundays in weeks two and three for the first time in recent memory” he told me this week.
"For years, both semi and preliminary finals have been Friday and Saturday nights, meaning that a lot of community competitions out west play their finals matches, including grand finals on Sunday.
"Suddenly last year, the NRL moved two finals to Sundays, with the Bulldogs vs Panthers game in week two and Broncos vs Panthers game in week three kicking off at 4pm on Sundays.
"That makes bush footy fans have to choose between watching their local grand final or the NRL finals, and given that only one town in a competition can be lucky enough to host the grand final, many in other locations may choose the convenience of watching the NRL game at home over travelling to the local game, impacting on attendances and gates at country matches.
"I know a lot of factors influence the finals schedule, including broadcaster requirements, turnarounds between matches for clubs, time zones in the case of the Warriors and the finals of other codes, but this wasn't an issue until last season."
Smith also thinks the NRL are making a mistake in their recent pre-season approach to trials.
"Another simple thing the NRL could do to help the game out here is to bring trial games back to the bush.” The Albury, NSW resident, added.
“It's a simple and easy way to create a buzz and drive registrations and interest in the game before local competitions kick off.
"Playing trial matches in Sydney in almost empty stadiums that already host the real deal, premiership matches in the winter time, does nothing for the wider game.”
Surely the NRL can consider taking more NRL trials to regional towns, and at the same time, getting the superstar players into the community.
Let the local businesses benefit from several thousand people coming into town and giving the kids and adults something to talk about at school and work on Monday.
And perhaps that's why Ash Taylor's story means so much to me.
Because when you strip away the million-dollar contracts, the NRL statistics, the injuries and all the headlines, you're left with a bloke who simply loves rugby league.
He couldn't continue playing it at the highest level, but he didn't need to walk away from it, either.
He found another way.
He's coaching builders, bakers and candlestick makers, some of whom are older than him.
These are players who don't need Ash Taylor the million-dollar NRL halfback. They need Ash Taylor the coach and the great human being he is.
He is someone who understands his troops. Someone who has been through the pressure, the highs and the lows.
Someone who knows what it feels like when rugby league stops being fun.
And because of all this, I've seen first-hand what happens when a country club starts believing in itself again.
That is why the NRL needs to look beyond its own modern, city-based stadiums.
Because there are thousands of Ash Taylors, Oakey Bears and country rugby league stories out there.
They need the NRL to remember them.
And if we get that right, the next Ash Taylor might not just come from the bush.
He (or she) might stay there, coach there, inspire the next generation - and help an entire town fall in love with rugby league all over again.
Lee Addison is a former club coach at Sea Eagles and Panthers and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. He is a Coach Mentor and his programmes for coaches and clubs can be found HERE.
