Jack Macrae reveals how he overcame the injury odds to experience the ‘greatest day of my life’

JACK Macrae overcame the injury odds to play a starring role in the Western Bulldogs Grand Final triumph but the young star still doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

Jack Macrae takes time out at Whitten Oval to reflect on an unforgettable final series. Picture: Michael Klein

FOR all the improbables associated with the Western Bulldogs’ “miracle” first premiership in 62 years, one of the least referenced but also one of the most important was the performance of Jack Macrae over the last month.

For all intents and purposes, Macrae might well have been sitting in the grandstands instead of averaging 30 disposals in each of the Bulldogs’ finals, as well as kicking the goal that propelled the Bulldogs into the Grand Final.

The fact he wasn’t is both a testimony to his resilience and a credit to the Western Bulldogs’ medical and conditioning team.

Such was the severity of the hamstring tendon tear the smooth midfielder suffered on a bleak night against Geelong in Round 19 — the same evening Tom Liberatore injured his ankle — that he was considered the least likely of the wounded Dogs to return for the finals.

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The medical staff hadn’t ruled a line through him, but it is understood they were more than pessimistic about his chances of him playing again in 2016 after looking at the scans the morning after.

It was meant to be an eight-to-10 week injury. Aided by the bye after Round 23, he managed to resume — in Perth of all places — one day under the six-week bracket, and he went on to be one of the club’s best players of the finals.

Yet for all that, the understated Bulldog star still doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

He doesn’t often get recognised around the streets of Melbourne, didn’t get pestered by well-meaning Aussie tourists when he was on a recent four-week trip to the United States with his girlfriend, and loves flying under the radar.

“I don’t get recognised anywhere at all, and that’s how I like it,” Macrae said this week as he resumed training with the first-to-fourth-year Bulldogs players.

“I love playing footy, but I don’t do it for the fame. I don’t go out of my way to seek attention.”

Macrae with teammates Josh Dunkley, Liam Picken and Toby McLean start the Grand Final celebrations. Picture: Getty Images

That might change given he is now an AFL premiership player — at 22 — coming off such a remarkable finals series against the odds.

“It was the greatest day of my life, and I am sure so many of the other boys would say the same thing,” Macrae said of the Grand Final win.

“I have only watched the game back once, and you remember little moments here and there. I remember ‘Picko’ (Liam Picken) playing the game of his life and remember Moz’s (Dale Morris) tackle against Buddy (Franklin) and Tom Boyd’s goal.

“It was at that moment I thought we were going to win the match.”

But as much as the on-field moments are great memories, what resonates with him was how the win touched the wider community.

“As soon as we won, I’ll never forget seeing people like (club doctors) Jake Landsberger and ‘Zimmer’ (Gary Zimmerman) and the fans who had been to every best-and-fairest count and AGM, and who had been waiting since 1954 to see it happen,” he said.

“It’s only my fourth season and it was the best day of my life, so I can only imagine what it meant to the older players, staff and the fans who had been waiting such a long time.”

Macrae is well aware how tight the timeline was in overcoming his injury, understanding any hiccup might well have cost him the cherished premiership medal.

On that night at Geelong, he first thought that the slight cramp on the right side of his body was an inconvenience rather than a serious issue.

Liam Picken (pictured) showed his class during the finals, says Macrae.

He tried to play on but couldn’t.

“I finally got bit by the injury bug,” Macrae recalled this week.

“I really hadn’t missed a game of footy throughout my whole career, even in the juniors.

“I played on for a couple of minutes that night, but when I pushed off, I just felt a sharp pain and I knew something was wrong.

“That night I was up icing it all night. I was praying it was going to be a two-week injury and it wasn’t going to be a serious one.”

The gravity of the situation came when the scans revealed a tear in his upper right hamstring tendon.

Macrae admits to being “shattered”.

“The medical staff were great, but they told me the aim was to push for the first week of the finals, but that was probably pushing it,” he said.

He knew some doubted he would play again in 2016.

Bulldogs assistant coach Steven King said Macrae’s injury had been considered the most serious in terms of the players coming back for the first final.

“Jack was probably the biggest risk because it was a tendon,” King said.

“We were really confident with the amount of work he had put in with his rehabilitation, but it was a soft-tissue injury, and with tendons you can never be too sure.

“With all due respect to Jack, you wouldn’t have him in the extroverted, aggressive in-your-face types. But, gee he is resilient. I consider him one of the toughest players in the club.”

A complicating factor in Macrae’s return for the elimination final was that it took place in Perth on a Thursday, which came after Jack Fitzpatrick kicked a late goal for Hawthorn to help them win the Round 23 game against Collingwood.

Macrae, a Hawks fan as a kid, was cursing them as he knew it would mean a trip across the country.

Young Bulldogs star Jack Macrae doesn’t mind flying under the radar. Picture: Michael Klein

But a strong session on the weekend before the first final convinced him and the medical team that he was ready to play.

“I was a bit rusty that night, but I was confident,” Macrae said. “If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t have played, because I wouldn’t have wanted to put the team at risk.”

Macrae was solid against the Eagles then backed it up with 39 disposals in the semi-final win over Hawthorn.

“That win over Hawthorn gave us the belief that we could go on with it,” he said.

Then came the preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney, when Macrae showed composure to kick the winning goal.

“I thought there was a little less time to go (when I kicked it),” he said.

“I don’t kick many goals, so it was good to be on the end of that one.”

It was only Macrae’s 19th goal — and his first since Round 1.

“The emotion in the rooms after the (GWS) game was incredible,” he said. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the rooms.”

Macrae travelled to the Grand Final the following week as he usually does with Easton Wood, trying to keep things as normal as possible.

By the end of the day, things were never going to be normal again for the young Bulldog, after his ­33-disposal effort.

But he is far from satisfied.

He is looking to the future, and the need to work harder to hopefully attain more success.

“At the end of the season when we had our last catch-up, Bevo’s message was to go and enjoy what we had accomplished but to look after ourselves over the break,” he said. “We don’t want to be just here for the one year. We know as great as this year was, if we let it slip and we don’t work as hard, it won’t happen again.”