Family, work and Redbacks: Adam Daly's total devotion

It's as if it was meant to be.

But, in reality, the Redbacks president said his return home to Tamworth and the Redbacks, after years of living away, was not a fait accompli.

"I don't think I was thinking that at the time; it just happened," he said of the decision to move his young family back to Tamworth after some 15 years of living elsewhere. He left town in the early 2000s.

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Daly is in his seventh consecutive season at the helm of North Tamworth, a commitment that the father of three juggles with family and work responsibilities.

He started at the bottom of the construction and earthmoving industry, and is now TPE's operations manager.

As for Norths. Well, they're going very nicely indeed. This season's club champions are the first- and third-grade minor premiers.

The club also finished the regular season as second- and fourth-grade runners-up.

"But the best thing about it is, not only what we're achieving on the field," Daly said, "but more what we're achieving off the field - creating opportunities for the young juniors, and being able to get together as a club and enjoy each other's company."

Daly - Norths' second-grade skipper - credits Redbacks vice-president Don Lewington for much of the club's success.

"He does a lot behind the scenes that nobody really sees," Daly said of Lewington.

At a sun-smacked No 1 Oval early Thursday afternoon, Daly and Lewington were joined by the Redbacks' first-and fourth-grade captains, Adam Greentree and Hugh Gentle, for a photo shoot for this story.

The four men are Tamworth and the Redbacks to the core. Daly first played for Norths in the early 90s. He has not played for another club.

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He said: "I'm very passionate about the Redbacks and what we're about. And the people that are there are some of my lifelong friends ... we're doing the right things."

Daly first left Tamworth in order to play rugby in Scotland, before settling in Brisbane. It was there that the former Tamworth Magpies first-grader met his wife, Drue.

The couple were living in Chinchilla when their burgeoning brood convinced them that it was time to be closer to family. Like countless people before him, Daly had heard the call of Tamworth, of home.

In a sense, his world spins on three axes: family, work and the Redbacks - with his clan settling on a property near Somerton.

"But it's close enough for that family support," he said.

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