Central North Rugby Round 11: Lachy and Mitch Mack's Gunnedah and Barraba sides set to do battle

Before joining forces for Central North, the brothers had only ever played the one game together. That was back in 2018 for Barraba when Mitch was home for the school holidays.

"I was only 17 and came off the bench for first grade and played the last 30 minutes," he recalled.

A "pretty special" moment, geography and other circumstances meant they hadn't had the opportunity to run out together again until the long weekend tournament.

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Lachy, who is the elder by four years, admits playing with Mitch was one of the reasons he put his hand up to suit up for the Kookaburras.

The brothers were among the sides best, with Lachy a force in the second row and Mitch impressing at blindside breakaway.

But as nice a moment as it was, it is set to be forgotten on Saturday with their respective sides facing off at Gunnedah.

Lachy is in his first season with the Red Devils while Mitch has been one of the Rams best in what has been a tough season for the proud club.

Unfortunately injury has curtailed the sibling battle with Lachy set to miss the clash with what Red Devils coach Dan Martin described as "a slight niggle".

He was looking forward to it, as was Mitch.

He was keen to get one back over his older brother after the Red Devils took the honours convincingly in their meeting earlier in the season.

As for who claimed the sibling honours....

"I don't know, I tried to keep away from him as much as I could. He outweighs me by about 20 kilos," Mitch joked.

Part of the Barraba/Gwydir side that won the under-19s premiership, this season is the 21-year old's first as a first grade regular.

"It's a bit of a learning curve at the the moment," he admitted.

"It's been pretty tough. We haven't had the numbers and stuff we expected."

But he believes there is plenty to build on.

Lachy linked up with the Red Devils after moving to town last year to take up a job as a stock and station agent with Elders. He had intended to line up for them last season before the competition was abandoned.

With his strong ties to Barraba, he conceded there were a few nerves before that first game.

"A lot of mates were giving me a bit of chat," the 24-year old said.

The Red Devils will be looking to bounce back after being edged out by Inverell 38-32 last round.

Elsewhere Moree host Quirindi, Walcha and Inverell match-up at Walcha in what is arguably the match of the round and Pirates travel to Scone.

The rejuvenated premiers have made a couple of changes with stalwart Simon Trappel coming in at inside centre for the injured Mitch Dening and Colby La-Chiusa named for his first start of the season on the wing for Ollie Wright.

Michael Purtle will meanwhile start at prop with Bart Leach coming off the bench while Tony O'Connor will replace Jack Shelton in the second row.

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