Australian Football

Redland

Originally known as Victoria Point, the club was formed in 1966 by Ern Dowling, and over the next three decades it gradually grew in strength, raising its sights accordingly. After adopting the name of Redlands - the 's' at the end was subsequently dropped - in 1972 it began to experience on field success, winning a premiership in 1975, and going close on several subsequent occasions.

By the 1990s Redland, which by this stage boasted the Sharks emblem, was knocking on the door of Queensland’s state league, and when it secured successive emphatic SQFA Division One premierships in 1998 and 1999 the time had clearly come for elevation into elite company. An affiliation with AFL club Essendon saw the Sharks nickname consigned to history, with Redland borrowing both emblem (Bombers) and colours (black and red) from its new partner.

In 2001 the Bombers had the satisfaction of providing a Grogan Medal winner in the shape of century goal kicker Paul O’Brien.

When AFL Queensland undertook a comprehensive restructuring exercise in 2005 the Bombers found themselves inaugural members of the state league Division One. However, a disappointing debut season saw them manage just 1 win from 18 matches to end up with the wooden spoon, and subsequent seasons were little better. However, in 2011 the club was invited to participate in the Northern Conference of the newly formed North East Australian Football League and, although there have been no premierships to date, the Bombers have generally been competitive, contesting the Conference finals in 2012 and 2013 and the league finals[1] in 2014. By contrast, the 2016 and 2017 seasons were somewhat disappointing as they yielded consecutive eighth place finishes while in 2018 they endured a dismal time, winning just once in 18 starts to nosedive to last place.