For years, Paralympian Michael Dobbie-Bridges's life was tennis, representing Australia in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics to six World Cups in wheelchair tennis.
Despite achieving a world ranking of 29 in singles and 27 in doubles, he's traded his racket for a football — now the captain-coach of a local wheelchair AFL league on Brisbane's southside called the Morningside Panthers.
Michael Dobbie-Bridges captain-coaches a local wheelchair AFL league in Brisbane. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
"Really passionate and proud Paralympian, but I really love football," he said.
Despite the sports being vastly different, the para-athlete, who is a paraplegic, was able to transfer his tennis skills to footy.
"The wheelchair movement skills are really similar," Dobbie-Bridges said.
"Obviously, don't have a racket in your hand, so things are a bit easier."
Dobbie-Bridges said he transferred his tennis skills to AFL. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
When the Victorian football fanatic moved to Queensland more than seven years ago, he became "jealous" of his friends back home who were involved in wheelchair AFL.
Dobbie-Bridges contacted the football league about bringing a wheelchair version of the sport to the sunshine state.
'Everyone really loves watching wheelchair AFL'
Trisha Squires, the head of AFL Queensland, said it's important to make sure "every person can play" the game.
Adding a wheelchair division was "another piece to our puzzle", she said.
Trisha Squires is the head of AFL Queensland. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
The AFL launched a series of come-and-try events to test the appetite for the wheelchair version of the game.
"We thought we'd just give it a go and see how many people would turn up," Ms Squires said.
She said people drove a "long way" to participate in the events, and the success of the trials led to it becoming its own league in 2023, with four foundation clubs across the state's south-east in Beenleigh, Ormeau, Redcliffe and Morningside.
Ms Squires said the wheelchair division had also expanded so players could represent the Brisbane Lions or Gold Coast SUNS, and the state at national competitions.
There's four wheelchair AFL clubs across Queensland's south-east, in Beenleigh, Ormeau, Redcliffe and Morningside. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
The game's rules are similar to AFL, but instead of playing on a football field, the wheelchair division is played on a netball court with two teams of five members.
The goals are the same, but a kick is a handball, and a thrown ball is equivalent to a pass.
"It's actually very high contact, from my experience, and it is very highly skilled," Ms Squires said.
"Everyone really loves watching wheelchair AFL. It's very exciting."
Goal to mirror other AFL leagues
Dobbie-Bridges said compared to other para sports in the state and across Queensland, the growth for wheelchair AFL has been "quite phenomenal".
Dobbie-Bridges is proud to see how much the clubs have grown already. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
"Creating a sport from the ground up, and seeing the growth, but also seeing the sense of community amongst the group, that's what makes me really proud."
Paul Mazoletti, the chairman of Australia's largest community-based football club, said it was a "no-brainer" when asked if his Morningside club wanted a wheelchair division.
"The board just said, bring them on and make them included and make them feel welcome," he said.
"We know it's very big in South Australia and Victoria, so we wanted to lead that way in Queensland."
Paul Mazoletti is the the chairman of Australia's largest community-based football club. (ABC News: Sarah Richards)
Dobbie-Bridges' dream is for wheelchair AFL to have a fully-fledged 18-national competition that mirrors the AFL and the AFLW leagues.
"We're not there yet, but we're building. We're putting things in place," he said.
Source: ABC