Andy Mack might have been a late convert to AFL but it's the footy code that the Gunnedah Bulldogs coach was exposed to earliest.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Mack's father Ken grew up kicking around the Sherrin, with AFL royalty nonetheless.
"He's AFL through and through," Andy said.
"He grew up with the Daniher's. He was between Neale and Anthony."
Arguably the most famous family in the game all four brothers - Neale, Anthony, Chris and Terry - went on to forge careers in the AFL.
Legend is Ken once kicked the winning goal in a preliminary final for Ungarie, playing a rotating rover with Neale, although that fact was unbeknownst to Andy until he was reading Neale's book.
"I said to dad were you part of that?," he said.
"All I knew was that he was at school with them."
He recalled how growing up the AFL was often on the TV.
"Dad was a massive Collingwood fan. That got passed down to us (Andy and brother James)," he said.
It was union and league that he ended up gravitating towards initially though, playing league while at high school with Farrer, and Gunnedah, and later suiting up for the Red Devils.
But he was well aware of the Bulldogs, working alongside club stalwart John Woolaston.
"I always said to him you reckon I'd be any good?," he said.
Then after losing a cricket grand final he was commiserating with Albion team-mate and Bulldogs legend Andrew George, and George mentioned that footy training was starting the next week.
Mack had "got a bit stale with rugby" so thought why not have a crack, James also joining him.
A handful of seasons later he found found himself thrust into the coaching role, taking over the reins last year.
The Bulldogs kick off their 2022 campaign this Saturday away to the New England Nomads.
They have counted some big name losses in the off-season with George and Mark Ewington both retiring, while captain Ben Maher has moved away.
Ryan Cooper will step up to the captaincy.
On the plus side ruckman Al Hillard is back, although Mack said he us "unfortunately" out this week.
He said they have been struggling for numbers a bit but have picked up a few new faces.
"So will be similar to last seasons start in the sense of starting from scratch," he said.
Last year was quite a steep learning curve, Mack acknowledging that he struggled with the transition from playing to coaching.
He particularly struggled from "massive guilt of telling people what to do", so tended to shy away from doing that.
"I don't like to be telling people do to things when I can't do them myself," he said.
It's something he knows he will have to be better at this season.
He was also guilty of "a few coaching blunders".
"There were a couple of games where I had people in certain spots and they did well, but the the next week against a different side they didn't work so well," he admitted.
It was "tough too" because he was "still trying to play" as well.
"I didn't train at all, because I was trying to coach," he said.
But for extreme circumstances that won't be the case this season, after reinjuring his knee playing cricket.
Even before that though he was hoping not to play.
"I'd rather not play, try and be that coach," Mack said.
"I don't think it works, I know Georgy struggled with it."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
