Armagh's Aimee Mackin not returning to Ausssie Rules this year

Michael Bolton

Armagh forward Aimee Mackin has revealed she will not be returning to Aussie Rules football in 2026.

Mackin has been playing for Melbourne Rebels, alongside her sister Blaithain, since 2023.

However, now fully fit and looking to make up for some lost time with club and county, Aimee will be staying put in Armagh for 2026.

"I didn't renew. The focus is solely on playing here and with my club. I think I owe my club a couple of seasons before going out.

"I haven't played with our club in a couple of years."

The Armagh forward did not rule out a return to the sport in the future.

"It might be for the immediate future, like a year or whatever.

"I think now it's important to stay at home and play Gaelic here. I think that's probably going to be the priority, but you don't know. Things can change."

One of the most talented players in Ladies Football, Mackin's last two seasons have been disrupted by injury.

A second ACL knee injury in 2024 saw Aimee miss Armagh's run to the All-Ireland semi-finals last year.

As Armagh failed to reach the quarter-finals, Aimee did not feature for her county last season.

An injury she was unfortunately all too familiar with, Mackin described what she was going through in her mind when it happened a second time in the space of four years.

"I didn't really know what the injury was. I just knew I had pain in my knee. It was weird.

"It was probably different to the first time. I wasn't sure that it was the cruciate, but we step out onto the pitch, and we knew that these are risks that are going to happen.

"Would I change it? No, because I think setbacks probably help you in terms of your mindset and what you need to do, probably pushes you that wee bit harder.

"So I think you have to be resilient and you have to put the effort in if you want to. I suppose that's what I wanted, so I knew I had to put in the work to get back."

Armagh get their Division One campaign underway on Sunday against Waterford.

For the first time in a couple of years, Mackin has been able to have a pre-season and feels good ahead of the Lidl National Football League.

"You know your own body and what you need to do. Pre-season wasn't so much with the team, but more so to tolerate what I needed to do. That's probably the best way to go about it.

"It's as good as it can be at the moment. Obviously, it wasn't great with injuries last year.

"I got back, but unfortunately, we didn't get a run in the Championship, so it just took pre-season to try and get myself right."