Many young footballers dream of making the game their livelihood—their legacy. Of bursting onto the professional scene as a teenager and never looking back. Of crossing continents, sitting shoulder to shoulder with international stars as the muffled roar of 50,000 fans seeps through the changing room walls.
For Zac Anderson, that dream became reality. But before all that, he was just a boy from the Burdekin.
Born in Ayr to two school teachers completing their country service, Zac lived out his formative years in Australia's sugarcane capital. Although the family migrated south to the Sunshine Coast when he was just five, Zac took with him something that couldn’t be coached: that inbuilt Burdekin doggedness.
“My secret formula... is that I come from a region that instils a hard-working, blue-collar attitude,” said Zac. “It’s a non-negotiable value that you’re kind of brought up with... No one can outwork me.”
It’s that work ethic that would sustain him at every level of the sport.
Starting out at Caloundra United on the Sunshine Coast, Zac quickly rose through the junior ranks, earning his stripes locally before catching the eye of the Brisbane-based Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) at 15 years old. It was then that he was faced with a choice that would shape the rest of his life.
“At that point, my mum and dad were still school teachers on the Sunshine Coast, and they gave me this ultimatum: ‘If you want to make it, you've got to go to boarding school—you’ve got to go to the big smoke.’”
With that, Zac's next chapter began.
His impressive performances with the QAS caught the eye of multiple A-League clubs. Soon after graduating from Brisbane Boys College, he was snapped up by Gold Coast United on an amateur contract, and from there, his path to the top began to crystallise.
“It was those moments training with the first team as an amateur that I realised this is really what I want to do. I didn't want to be at uni—I just wanted to be in the gym. I just wanted to be playing football. I couldn't think about anything else but wanting to be an elite athlete.”
“I was ready to sacrifice everything—and if I didn't make it, at least I knew that I'd given it everything.”
After a year of intense effort and persistence, that determination soon delivered its reward.
“I remember getting the call one day to meet with the coach after training. He said, ‘You’re going to start [for the first team in the A-League] this weekend,’" recalled Zac.
"I couldn't sleep for the rest of the week."
The weekend soon came, and the stage was set—Hindmarsh Stadium, notoriously compact and brimming with hostile Adelaide United fans. With the added challenge of being played out of position, the nerves began to swirl for Zac.
“All I was thinking about was not embarrassing myself," he said.
But once the game started, it flashed by. Gold Coast came away with a point, thanks in no small part to 65 industrious minutes from Anderson—the small-town kid who had finally announced himself on the big stage.
"It was an amazing night for me and my family—something that you work your whole life to be able to achieve.”
“Then you realise it's done—you’ve made your debut. Now you’ve got to try and replicate that as many times as you possibly can.”
Zac went on to make a further 88 domestic appearances, winning the A-League with the Central Coast Mariners before fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing abroad in 2016. After stints in the UAE and Malaysia, Anderson spent 2020 in Singapore with Hougang United, rounding off an overseas chapter he calls “the best decision I ever made.”
After calling time on his playing days shortly after, Anderson took on the role of Chief Operating Officer at Brisbane Roar in 2023, bringing an MBA, business acumen, and an undying passion for football to the role he still holds and relishes today.
"I’m still on this journey. After nearly a decade playing professionally, leaving the game meant starting again in many ways. This is my next chapter—growing and learning.”
Yet, through every step of his career—every country, every continent, every role—his foundation has stayed the same.
“Being brought up in [the Burdekin] instils a value set that stays with you for a long time. I think that people in these regions understand the value of hard work. I've got that within me, and I think that’s the reason why I've been able to have the career that I’ve had.”
Because no matter how far he’s travelled, Zac Anderson will always be a boy from the Burdekin.
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