AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Port Adelaide | SAFL | 1900-1905, 1907-1909 | 114 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Central Broken Hill | BRFA | 1906 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Total | 1900-1909 | 114 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Port Adelaide’s 1907 Magarey Medallist Jack Mack played an unknown number of games for the club in a nine-season career which began in 1900 and, broken by a single year with Central Broken Hill in 1906, ended “because my leg was playing up”¹ in 1909. He was a somewhat inconspicuous performer early, but by 1903 was beginning to eke out a reputation for himself as a hard working and occasionally brilliant follower. While with Central Broken Hill in 1906 he won that club’s best all round player award, despite only intermittently capturing his best form.
Returning to the city in 1907 Mack combined with newcomer Shine Hosking and veteran ‘Welshy’ Davies to give Port Adelaide the best first ruck combination in the SAFL.² Mack was frequently named among Port’s best players that season, and mid-way through the year made his interstate debut against the VFA. His Medal win, when it came, was both predictable, and unanimous.³
Jack Mack continued to perform to a high standard for the remainder of his career. He was a member of South Australia’s inaugural carnival team at Melbourne in 1908, and was still playing consistently well when he elected to retire the following year.
Author - John Devaney
1. Quoted in SA Greats: The History Of The Magarey Medal by John Wood, page 57.
2. The South Australian Football Association (SAFA) became the South Australian Football
League (SAFL) in 1907.
3. The Medal was voted for, at season's end, by all the central umpires who had officiated
during the season.