On Saturday, Tye, 17, convincingly won the intermediate final at the New Zealand Shears shearing and woolhandling championships in Te Kuiti, his 16th intermediate win of the 2025-26 season — the most by any shearer or woolhandler in any grade.
Then the slightly built 57kg teenager teamed up with his father Justin to win the Whanau Teams event, beating a host of well-known names, including shearing royalty Sir David Fagan and his son Jack, the latter later claiming the open shearing final, which had been won 17 times by his father.
Yesterday, Tye was back working for Phil Cleland Shearing in the woolshed at Mt Watkins, near Waikouaiti, while Justin was home on the farm catching up on jobs.
Mr Meikle, 52, had made a comeback on the shearing circuit and was enjoying ‘‘being along for the ride’’ with Tye, who finished the season in the No1 intermediate spot in the Shearing Sports New Zealand rankings.
His youngest son had a ‘‘hell of a season’’ with a raft of successes, including father and son winning New Zealand lamb shearing titles at the Mackenzie Shears on Easter Monday.
‘‘I’m not going to be the fastest shearer in my family for much longer,’’ Mr Meikle quipped.
With just two years of competition shearing under his belt, Tye — who turns 18 in June — would be moving up to the senior ranks next season, but his father said he was not putting any pressure on him. He wanted to see how good his son could be, rather than how good he might have been.
Whether it was something to do with being the youngest of four, Mr Meikle was not sure, but he said humble Tye handled the high pressure of shearing on stage.
‘‘He just gets up there and does it, he’s just so good at what he does.’’
Yesterday, as he helped with the New Zealand Shears cleanup, Sir David agreed Tye was something special.
‘‘Where Tye’s got it is just his pattern and his mental ability to keep sustaining these wins.’’
Sir David was sitting with Tye during the Whanau Teams event and he told the young shearer that he could not wait until he got into the open ranks as it was going to be exciting to watch.
There had been three or four over the past few decades who had come through at Tye’s age. Sir David himself moved into open at 20 and he expected Tye would be there after a couple of years as a senior shearer.
Mataura shearer Dre Roberts won the senior shearing final at the New Zealand Shears while fellow Southland shearer Leon Samuels was runner-up to Jack Fagan in the open.
