Thomas Hudson broke through for his maiden PBR Australia event win in front of a packed house at the Nowra Showgrounds on Saturday night.

The Dungog cowboy reigned supreme at the 2025 Monster Energy Nowra Invitational, securing victory with his Round 1 score and taking home over $6,600 in prize money.

Riding into his left hand, Hudson looked to be in complete control of his opening round matchup against Checkmate from Morgys Cattle Company. Things got a little loose as the 8 seconds were about to expire, but he was able to maintain contact with his bull rope until the bell and posted the highest score of the night - 85 points.

The 25-year-old said he was thrilled to get his hands on a PBR Australia Event Champions buckle.

"It's been a long wait, and a lot of miles," he grinned.

"I hadn’t seen much of that bull, but I knew he was a good young bull," he explained when asked about his winning ride.

"So, I just got out there and got after it".

And 'get after it' he did, with the judges awarding Hudson a rider score of 44 points, 3 points higher than Checkmate, who received a bull score of 41 points.

Watch the replay of the 2025 Nowra Invitational on YouTube.

It was a tough night for the cowboys with the bulls dominating proceedings and allowing just four riders to make the whistle across the two rounds of competition.

Nash Mellers filled the runner-up position with his 84-point ride aboard Hillbilly Bandit (Lazy G Bucking Bulls/Provost Partnership) in Round 1. The Gracemere young gun handled everything the bull threw at him as he spun to the right to record his third top 5 finish of his rookie year.

Splitting third place with ride scores of 83.50 points were Zane Hall and Alison Aguilar. 

Early in the opening round, Hall combined with Jungle Full of Hillbillys (Diamond S Bucking Bulls) to become the first rider to post a score. The Athol bull rider made no mistakes, easily covering the bulls' every move as they worked their way around to the left in front of the bucking chute.

In the very next trip, Aguilar was able to match the score posted by Hall against Night Moves (Diamond S Bucking Bulls). The Brazilian made it look easy as the bull followed the gate and turned back to the left into his hand, hamming it up to the crowd following his flashy dismount.

Check out the Full Results from the 2025 Nowra Invitational.

With his event win, Thomas Hudson jumped up twenty spots in the National Standings and now sits on the Grand Finals qualification bubble. He earned 248 points and holds down the No. 21 spot entering the last month of the 2025 PBR Australia season.

Nash Mellers' haul of 153 points improved his position to 19th and, significantly, created a gap of over 100 points between himself and the projected cut line for Townsville.

Zane Hall and Alison Aguilar maintained their place inside the top 5 with the end of the regular season rapidly approaching. They each collected 97 points towards the National Standings and made up some ground on the top-ranked riders in the standings.

Kurt Shephard and Luan Crystian Camara both bucked off their long round bulls at Nowra, so there were no changes at the top of the National Standings leaderboard. 

No. 3-ranked Clint Glass was forced to withdraw from the competition following his buck off in Round 1 due to injury, so his status for the closing events of the year will need to be monitored.

View the updated 2025 PBR Australian National Standings.

Bucking Bull of the Year contender Nirvana picked up his seventh YETI ABBI High Marked Bull of the Night award for the season. The Dittmann Bucking Bull posted 44 points in his rank 3.23-second Round 2 trip against Thomas Hudson.

Man Glitter from Morgys Cattle Company and Mr T from Dittmann Bucking Bulls also had a good night in Nowra. Both were awarded bull scores of 43 points for their trips.

PBR Australia’s Monster Energy Tour returns to Queensland next weekend for one of the most anticipated events of the season, the 2025 Mackay Invitational, which will be held over two nights at BB Print Stadium on 3-4 October. Find all the event details and information on how to secure your tickets on the PBR Australia website.

For the latest results, news and stats, stay tuned to PBRAustralia.com.au, follow the tour on Facebook (PBR Australia), Instagram (@PBRAustralia) and TikTok (@PBRAustralia) and subscribe to @ProBullRidersAust on YouTube for live events, replays and highlights.