Inside Spang's rise from the bush to goal scorer on national stage

Jesse Spang might be plying his trade at the national level now, he has not forgotten his roots.

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Since leaving Dubbo at the end of 2020, Spang embarked on a career in the Sydney leagues, playing for NWS Spirit, Mounties Wanderers, St George Budapest, and most recently Northern Tigers, before he made the move to Tasmania for the second season of the national second division.

Jesse Spang in action for South Hobart in the Australian Championship. Picture by Australian Championship

Spang knows he's had to work hard to get where he is, but he credited his country upbringing with helping him achieve his dreams.

"It's been a great journey. I've had a lot of people help me get me where I am now," he said.

"My Mum, Dad and older brother Tyler would have helped me the most. I trained with my brother and Dad the most out of anyone.

"Then there's football people like Alan Auld, for example. He was at Macquarie United. And Paul Crain as well. He was helpful. I've had a lot of people help me out from Dubbo. Scott Todhunter too.

"And then when moving to Sydney, I moved and my only drive at the time was football. So I had a lot of time to put a lot of effort into getting better at what I do.

Jesse Spang on the ball for Macquarie United FC in the Western Premier League during the 2020 season. Picture by Amy McIntyre

"I think if you love it enough and you work hard enough, there's literally nothing stopping you.

"Being a country boy, I feel like you have different morals in a few ways, and that can kind of help you gain relationships with people. And I suppose that can help you out as much as your hard work as well."

In Spang's debut match for South Hobart, he scored the opening goal in his team's 2-1 win over Lions FC in Brisbane back on October 18.

It adds to the 17 goals he scored for Northern Tigers during the 2026 season, where he played 34 games across Football NSW League One and Australia Cup qualifying matches.

The Tigers finished second in League One and qualified for a two-legged promotion play-off against St George FC, who finished 15th in NPL Men's NSW. However, they were denied promotion, losing 4-1 on aggregate.

Spang said his goal-scoring form for the Tigers is what got the South Hobart management interested.

It also helped that current South Hobart player Musashi Kokubo was a former teammate at NWS Spirit.

Jesse Spang celebrates scoring for South Hobart in the opening round of the 2026 Australian Championship. Picture by Jack Wood

"So I was playing at Tigers this season, and I had a pretty good year scoring 17 goals in the NPL. I guess getting your name on the scoresheet gets your name out there," Spang said.

"A player that I used to play with at Spirit actually plays at South Hobart, Musashi Kokubo. And their coach, he'd heard of me prior.

"He just reached out during the season, seeing if I was keen for the opportunity and said: 'If you keep scoring, we'll look at you for the opportunity.' I ended up scoring a fair few this year.

"He reached out again probably two months before the Championship, seeing if I wanted to come down. I've been pretty lucky. They've looked after me really well."

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