Warrnambool footballer Zacc Dwyer to make Hampden league debut

Parents Ann and Mark are holidaying in Queensland and will miss his first senior game for the Hampden league powerhouse.

"On Tuesday night (coach) Matt (O'Brien) wanted me to train and I normally train (with the seniors) once a week and he was like 'make sure you come to training'.

"I was thinking 'I could be in this week'. I got to training last night and he said 'come over here' and he told me 'you're in'.

"Mum and Dad are in Queensland so I wasn't sure if I wanted to play and when he said it I was like 'yeah, I'll do it'."

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Zacc, 16, said he was nervous but excited to represent the Blues and would give his parents a wrap of his performance post-match.

"Mum said before they left 'don't play seniors this weekend'," he joked.

"Dad said he would call me today and wants me to tell me how I go afterwards."

Zacc is following his father's footballing footsteps.

Mark played 14 games for Fitzroy and St Kilda in the 1980s, collecting 10 Brownlow votes in his debut season.

"He played at Warrnambool when he was done in Melbourne and my uncle Pat played there too and my cousin Lachie played his first game last year too," Zacc said.

Zacc has battled injuries throughout his career and even played a junior game on a broken leg last season.

"I came back from that (broken leg) injury a bit early and I got tendonitis in my hip and then I got bruised ribs halfway through the season so I thought 'no point playing this year, just rest'," he said.

But the Warrnambool College student has enjoyed a smooth start to his 2019 campaign with the Blues' under 18 team.

The midfielder will play on a wing for O'Brien's star-studded senior side.

"I was surprised, our seniors are really strong so I thought the only way I'd get in is if we had injuries," Zacc said.

Off the field, Dwyer is busy with school and plans to follow Mark into the real estate profession.

The youngest of three children looks up to sister Danili, 26, and brother Dominic, 24.

Danili works at South West Healthcare as an occupational therapist and Dominic is finishing an aerospace engineering course and will soon start working for Boeing.

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