President's Report
What a year it has been for American Football in Queensland. Coming out of the COVID-19
pandemic, there was definitely a lot of uncertainty in the community. However, in true
Queenslander spirit, we have experienced a positive return to football in the 2022/2023 season,
witnessing growth in our membership base and excellent competition. Wrapping up the
2022/2023 season on high note, our Men’s, Women’s, and U20’s Sun Devils teams achieved an
undefeated run. Congratulations to all of our representative players.
Looking ahead, we have a lot of opportunities we can take advantage of. Our new 2023-2025
Strategic Plan is helping guide the way, and we look forward to appointing the first-ever GQ
Commissioner. We are excited about restarting our Women's competitions in SEQ and RQ,
expanding youth football to accommodate faster & more engaging competition and growing our
flag football presence. It's not all touchdowns and pick sixes, though. Women's professional
football growth in other codes is making it tough to recruit and grow teams. Our affiliate clubs
need to build youth and junior feeder programs and are battling for green space across
Queensland. These are all challenges making it harder to set our feet to really take advantage
of the growth we are expected to see.
A special thank you to the past committee members and outgoing President, Jason Geraghty,
whose tireless efforts helped us weather the storm of COVID. Jason has played an integral role
in the growth of youth and junior football, having served tirelessly as the club president of the
Moreton Bay Raptors before joining GQ. Thank you, Jason.
Congratulations to the Townsville Cyclones (Reef Bowl Champions), Bayside Ravens (Men’s
Sunbowl Champions) and Brisbane Rhinos (Junior Sunbowl Champions). As well as to the
Mackay Mavericks (Reef Bowl Runner Up), Brisbane Rhinos (Men’s Sunbowl Runner Up) and
Gold Coast Stingrays (Junior Sunbowl Runner Up).
I would like to thank my fellow board members now, as 2023-2024 will be hectic. With renewed
energy to grow American Football here in Queensland, I am excited about getting a football in
every hand with 5v5 youth football, delivering a new website and communication platform,
implement governance improvements, and a lot more.
James Cowlishaw
GQ President
2023-2025 Strategic Plan
2022 Financial Statements
