







To whomever it may concern. I’m writing to you to let you know about the outstanding actions of one of your players in recent times. In December 2018 Narrabri Rugby Club hosted a session on the Batyr “Get Talkin” road trip in partnership with NSWRU.My entire family attended this session,where one of the special player guests was Mack Mason.Mack interacted with the kids that were there freely and was very engaging.He happily signed autographs,ran drills,played touch and even gave a few shirts away.He was very laidback,and mixed well with everyone there,and participated strongly in the forum held. My 3 kids spent the next days watching footage of him on YouTube and reading anything they could find about him online.They immediately had a new favourite player,as they considered him their mate already. I posted a photo of the day online,thanking everyone involved.From this Mack contacted me to thank me for the day,which has since resulted in a bit of banter back and forth between us.Mack contacts regularly to check in on the boys and what they’re up to with their footy.This has only cemented him in deeper as their favourite player....a pretty big deal given they are both forwards and he is a back! Last week Mack contacted me to let me know he’d be passing through town.He broke his trip up to stop and say g’day to our family and catch up.The boys were beside themselves with excitement for days leading up to this.Mack spoke with them for ages,passed and kicked the footy with them and gave them a bunch of his old jerseys and shorts plus a game ball.The boys,in following good rugby tradition,presented him some Narrabri Blue Boars gear that they had saved up to get for him themselves. We live 55km from our local rugby club field,where the boys had training that afternoon.Mack offered to give them a lift into town.They were in his ute and ready to go in record time.He drove them all the way into town,where apparently they chatted about rugby,hunting,fishing,music and plenty more.When I pulled up behind them on arrival I can’t remember seeing them so happy and excited as that for a long time. There are plenty of plans being made at our place-going to watch Mack play (this will be a big deal as we never go to the city),a hunting trip to Mack’s place at Mitchell....the list goes on.He plans to call in again on his next trip,so they have plans for that too. In a world where all the negative stuff is the big ticket news items,this young man is a fantastic story.The press and social media trolls recently hung him out to dry over his performance against the Sunwolves,he then responded with enormous maturity in the first round of the Shute Shield against Sydney Uni,playing an outstanding game to earn man of the match honours.Amongst all this recent commotion he found the time to catch up with a few grassroots fans in the bush,who he could have easily just traveled past and no-one would have known.If only there were more Mack Mason’s around,our wonderful game would be bigger,brighter and better for it. Being a volunteer administrator at both senior and junior club levels I am acutely aware of the struggles that rugby has around retention and recruitment,so I truly appreciate him and his efforts.Mack really understands the importance of kids feeling involved and respected,he is wise beyond his years. He is a great bloke,we look forward to watching his star rise and deeply appreciate his friendship.Characters like Mack are where money is well spent,a great investment that will pay dividends on and off the field for years to come.I would imagine your sponsors would be chuffed with a bloke like him too.He is to be congratulated on his demeanour. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Regards, Mick Coffey President Narrabri Junior Rugby Club Inc. Vice President Narrabri Rugby Union Club Ltd. 0429937834 macoffey1978@gmail.com



