The Leather Brothers' American ascent and their return next month for the PBR Australian Grand Finals
"The Australians bring so much grit to the table. It's wild down there…"
The Leathers boys will soon be back in town!!!
From a family of 13 kids in Calliope, Central Queensland, to riding bulls beneath the bright lights of America's biggest arenas, brothers Macaulie and Boston Leather are taking one extraordinary Australian bull riding story to the world, and back!
They have already made history at home - Macaulie, 25, won the PBR Australian Championship in 2023, then a year later, younger brother Boston followed him, winning both Rookie of the Year and the 2024 Australian Championship and making the Leathers the first siblings to win back-to-back Australian titles in history.
Now they're doing it in America, and this time, they're on opposite sides of the chutes.
Macaulie has emerged as one of the big weapons for the Missouri Thunder in the elite PBR Teams league, while 21-year-old Boston has been snapped up by the Kansas City Outlaws, immediately making an impact for his new team. AND NEXT MONTH, THEY'LL FLY HOME FOR THE PBT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN TOWNSVILLE - November 13 and 14!
For Macaulie, 2026 has produced the biggest numbers of his US career. The quietly spoken Queenslander has become one of Missouri's trusted heavy hitters, producing four 90-point rides during the Teams season and, in Anaheim in September, delivering the biggest of them all.
Matched with superstar bull King Tut, Macaulie stayed aboard for eight seconds and exploded onto the scoreboard for 93.35 points. It's the highest-scoring ride of the entire 2026 PBR Teams season to date, and the highest premier-level score of his career.
Even Macaulie didn't quite see that one coming. "I know I'm more than capable to get on a bull like King Tut and get a 93, but that was still a bit of an eye-opener. Scoring the high-marked ride of the season is never something I thought about."
It's a long way, literally and figuratively, from where the Leather story began.
Bull riding and rodeo run through the veins of Calliope clan. The Leather family includes 13 children, eight girls and five boys, with bulls, horses and rodeo forming part of family life from childhood.
Macaulie is the second eldest. Boston is fifth. Their youngest brother Raglin is 12 and, according to Boston, will climb aboard anything he can get near. "He gets on every day of the week, every chance he can," Boston said. "He's pretty talented. My sisters love barrel racing."
For all the noise surrounding Macaulie's performances, he remains characteristically quiet.
Missouri Thunder General Manager and retired PBR rider Luke Snyder describes the Australian as the team's "go-to guy" when the draw gets seriously tough. "It doesn't matter what direction the bull goes. He's left hand down but can go either way. Just this year he really stepped up, and we started feeding him some of the harder bulls."
Snyder says Macaulie's value extends well beyond the scoreboard. "In the locker room Macaulie is even-keeled. He's a man of few words. When he talks, everyone listens."
Then, there's the Australian factor.
"The Australians bring so much grit to the table. It's wild down there, and he's a cowboy through and through. He can ride a horse, or a bull. The mentality Macaulie brings to the team is irreplaceable."
It's an assessment made even more remarkable by Snyder's own connection to Australian bull riding.
He competed in Australia 12 times during his career, and remembers that when he won the PBR World Finals in 2001, Macaulie Leather was only just beginning life in Calliope.
LITTLE BROTHER KICKS THE DOOR OPEN: While Macaulie has been producing 90-point fireworks, Boston has been mounting his own American charge. The 2024 Australian Champion has spent the season grinding away on the US Challenger circuit, collecting wins and top-five finishes before his form caught the attention of the Kansas City Outlaws. Kansas City signed him as a free agent in September.
He didn't waste the opportunity. In his first PBR Teams weekend with the Outlaws in Greensboro, North Carolina, Boston went 2-for-3, opening with 86.15 points aboard Snake Eyes before producing a 83.45-point qualified ride on Tijuana Two-Step to help Kansas City defeat the Oklahoma Wildcatters.
Outlaws General Manager Jon Williams said the young Australian had exactly what Kansas City was looking for. "What we always try to look for in riders is the toughness, physical and mental. You watch video of Boston's rides in his career, and you can see that. He's a hard worker. You can tell he loves riding bulls. That's one of the things we try to hammer home. You have to love what you're doing."
Boston admits riding in America has required some adjustment, particularly to the four-legged opposition.
"The bulls are a bit different, they a lot faster and move more. The bulls home tend to be bigger and heavier. The bulls here are more athletic."
The Leather brothers aren't the Queenslanders making serious noise in the United States. Clermont's Brady Fielder, riding for the Texas Rattlers, currently sits third in the 2026 PBR Teams MVP race, continuing another extraordinary international season for the Australian star.
Australian fans will have the chance to see the former Australian Champion Boston back on familiar dirt when he returns for the PBR Australia Grand Finals in Townsville on November 13 and 14.
From Calliope to Missouri and Kansas City, and from Australian Gold Buckles to 90-point rides in America, the Leather brothers' story is still being written, but one thing is for certain, bull riding doesn't just run in this family, it gallops.
Friday 13 - Saturday 14 November: PBR Australia Grand Finals
- Venue: Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre, Townsville, Queensland
- Booking: PBR Australia Grand Finals Tickets
ABOUT PBR AUSTRALIA
Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is one of the fastest-growing sports properties in the world, with tours across the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. A subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings -which also owns UFC and WWE- has transformed bull riding into a premier international sport since its founding in 1992. The organisation features over 1,000 riders globally and hosts more than 200 events annually worldwide. In Australia, Professional Bull Riders Australia (PBRA) stages more than 20 events each year, attracting over 75,000 fans. PBRA showcases key events and tours such as the Monster Energy Tour, PBR Origin Series, and PBR Grand Finals, while also partnering with regional event organisers through the PBR Touring Pro Division. The organisation supports emerging talent through its Can-Am Junior Academy and serves as an international pathway to the United States circuit for both Junior and Open competition athletes.
