Mac Andrew (born 4 December 2003) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Early life

Andrew was born in Cairo, Egypt, to

South Sudanese South Sudan is home to around 60 indigenous ethnic groups and 80 linguistic partitions among a population of around million. Historically, most ethnic groups were lacking in formal Western political institutions, with land held by the communi ...

parents. In 2005, at 18 months old, he moved to Australia with his family. He began playing

for

Wantirna South Wantirna South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Wantirna South recorded a population of 20,754 at the 2021 census. 5 ...

at the under-9s level and later played at Berwick, he also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

throughout his upbringing. Andrew progressed through the junior football ranks before being selected to represent the

Dandenong Stingrays The Dandenong Southern Stingrays are an Australian rules football team in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. 1992 saw the birth of the Southern Stingrays, developed under the leadership of Steve Kennedy (Regiona ...

in the

NAB League The Talent League (also known as the Coates Hire, Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the National Australia Bank, NAB League and Transport Accident Commission, TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representa ...

. He was also a member of the

Melbourne Demons The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

' Next Generation Academy but was later ruled ineligible to be selected by the Demons due to restrictions on NGA prospects bid on with first round picks. At the age of 17, Andrew was drafted to the

with pick 5 in the

2021 AFL draft The 2021 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players during and following the completion of the 2021 AFL season. The National Draft returned to being a t ...

and became the first player of South Sudanese heritage to be taken with a top five pick in the national draft. He was educated at St Joseph’s College in Ferntree Gully.

AFL career

Andrew made his

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

debut for the

at 18 years of age against the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

in round 20 of the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

and became the first Egyptian-born player to debut in the AFL. In round 22 of the

2024 AFL season The 2024 AFL season was the 128th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 7 March to 28 September, comprising ...

, Andrew kicked a goal after the siren to defeat at Marvel Stadium.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of 2024'' , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 31 , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 27 , , 15 , , 42 , , 18 , , 8 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.8 , , 3.8 , , 10.5 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 31 , 17 , , 0 , , 0 , , 148 , , 39 , , 187 , , 88 , , 24 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.7 , , 2.3 , , 11.0 , , 5.2 , , 1.4 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 31 , 20 , , 9 , , 4 , , 199 , , 87 , , 286 , , 118 , , 33 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 10.0 , , 4.4 , , 14.3 , , 5.9 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 41 !! 9 !! 4 !! 374 !! 141 !! 515 !! 224 !! 65 !! 0.2 !! 0.1 !! 9.1 !! 3.4 !! 12.6 !! 5.5 !! 1.6

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, Mac 2003 births Living people Gold Coast Football Club players Dandenong Stingrays players Australian people of South Sudanese descent Sportspeople of South Sudanese descent South Sudanese refugees South Sudanese players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Melbourne South Sudanese emigrants to Australia Refugees in Egypt People from the City of Knox