Dion was competing against 14 other talented riders in the steer wrestling discipline across three days from January 25-27 of the ABCRA 2023 National Finals Rodeo in Tamworth.

Dion said he got all three of his steers thrown across the three rounds with clean times of 6 seconds, 6.8 seconds and 7 seconds.

While these times were quite fast, he was unable to beat the average time of the eventual winner.

Dion said the weekend was good as he had his wife and kids there to support him while he was competing.

While he won't be going as far to rodeos in the next year, Dion said he does aim to compete at the National Finals again next year.

This was the first year Dion has been steer wrestling, with it being the first time he's qualified for this category.

However, he has had a long experience with rodeos.

Dion has been riding calves, steers and bulls since he was four years old and qualified for the National Finals in the Bull Ride in 2006, but since having kids he has steadied up and progressed to the timed events.

Dion said steer wrestling took his fancy 14 years ago and he competed in a few rodeos here and there, but decided to have a serious run for the finals last year.

In training for the the finals, Dion said he has a horse he has trained to compete and goes to a friend's property near Dubbo to practise his steer wrestling skills there.

To qualify for the finals, he competed across no less than 40 rodeos, winning one rodeo and placing across many others.

Dion said the top 15 were selected for the Nationals based on money won across the season - his earnings qualified him in 12^th to earn his place.