Mack's back: NSW debut to complete full-circle journey

All it took was an off-hand comment to Maitlan Brown, and the wheels were in motion for Katie Mack’s New South Wales homecoming.

Mack is set to be finally presented with her NSW Breakers cap on Friday morning, ahead of their WNCL season opener against Victoria, marking a full-circle moment in the 13-year career of the Sydney-born opening batter.

The 32-year-old came up through the NSW pathways, during a period where the Breakers were a near-unstoppable force in domestic cricket, in the middle of a run of 10 consecutive WNCL titles with a side stacked with Australian players.

It meant Mack had to look elsewhere for her big break, and after securing a spot with the ACT Meteors in 2013-14, she went on to forge a career as one of the country's finest uncapped opening bats.

Last season, when Mack was mulling over what the next phase of her career could look like, she mentioned to Brown – her former housemate from when the pair both lived in Canberra – that she was looking for a fresh challenge.

Not long after, NSW's head of elite female cricket Leah Poulton came calling.

"For probably the first time in a while, I was thinking about my opportunities, and how I wanted to spend the last phase of my career, and what I wanted to get out of it," Mack told cricket.com.au.

"I felt like I just wanted something new and exciting and to try something different, get out of my comfort zone.

"Maitlan's been trying to get me (to NSW) for years, since she moved back, and I showed her that I was open to at least discussing it.

"And then the next thing you know I have Leah contacting me, so that word moved pretty quick.

"But the first thing for me was just to have at least the idea of change and then NSW approached me, and they're a great organisation, they have lots to offer and it's pretty hard to say no in the end."

Mack is one of a number of current or recent Breakers who took the long path back to their state of birth, alongside Erin Burns (formerly Tasmania and ACT), Brown (ACT), Sam Bates (ACT, Tasmania, Victoria) and recent retiree Sammy-Jo Johnson (Queensland).

"It'll be cool to finally debut," she said. "I was contracted years ago when I was really young, but it was that amazing era when New South Wales had I think seven Australian players, and back then, international cricket wasn't as busy as it is now for the women, so they played a lot of WNCL, so it was a really hard team to crack into.

"And that's the reason why I left; I just didn't see really much opportunity here at the time, being so young, with such a good team.

"Back then, we weren't really paid, so I couldn't really move states – that's where ACT came in, it was (originally) a great opportunity to still live (in Sydney) for a couple years and finish uni and be able to stay at home and work and save some money without the big commitment of changing states."

Mack has completely revamped her domestic cricket this season, having also left the Adelaide Strikers to take up a new contract with the Perth Scorchers.

She admitted it had not been easy to leave the Strikers – nor had it been easy to leave the Meteors – but the chance to play Big Bash cricket with the likes of Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine was ultimately too good to pass up.

"It was a bit of a shock," Mack said of the contract offer from Perth. "They contacted me last year, and put a lot of value in me.

"They want me to open, and the opportunity to open with someone like Mooney – it's hard to turn down.

"They came pretty hard, which is really nice to feel that value.

"It was a very, very difficult choice – as was moving to New South – I had quite a bit of loyalty with the people I was playing with and I really enjoyed my time with Strikers.

"But Perth seems like a really good club, probably on the top of the list of places where I'd enjoy playing and they put an offer forward I couldn't deny."