It was as predicable as a heat shimmer across the Oxley Highway heading into Gunnedah.
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Below a post on the Namoi Valley Independent's Facebook page, for an article in which Matt Brady praised Sean Hayne over his appointment as the Gunnedah Bulldogs' rugby league coach, was this comment aimed at Brady: "Comeback?"
Brady, the Bulldogs' former playmaker who retired in his prime after the 2019 season, replied with a laughing emoji. The 29-year-old married father of three boys is used to laughing off talk of a comeback.
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"Fairly often ... every now and then," he said of requests for him to lace up again. "They're generally asking with a bit of false hope; they know the answer they're probably gonna get, anyway."
Not even his former mentor's return to coaching, following a five-year absence, could prompt the Essential Energy crew coordinator to end his retirement.
"Not for me," he said of playing this year. "I'm pretty settled with where I'm at and all that.
"But I think Sean will do a good job. Hopefully they have a really good year."
With each season that passes since Brady's surprise decision to step away from rugby league, Group 4's 2017 player of the year moves farther away from a comeback.
"Not really, I haven't," he said when asked if he kept tabs on the Bulldogs. "I'm sorta fairly busy with kids and work and what's going on in my life.
"Since I stopped playing I haven't really gone back anywhere near the footy. I might of watched one game, I think, and that was a couple of years ago."
"I stay away from it. It probably helps keep any itches away," he added.
Brady's boys are aged six to one. He had his two youngest children with Rhiannon, whom he married in October, 2020, after they eloped to the Hunter Valley when their wedding was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The couple will celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Monday, October 17. "I like to try and be as present as I can be," Brady said of his family.
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Mark Bode
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
