But maybe it was just the change the long-serving Southern United defender needed to find a different perspective on the eve of a new national league season.
After serving as Queen’s High School’s assistant coach last season, Mackay-Wright stepped up as head coach this season, guiding them to 12th place at their first premier national secondary schools tournament.
Queen’s, where Mackay-Wright also works as a physical education and health teacher, sailed through the local league with an astonishing 90 goals for and zero conceded.
For a young team, with no year 13 students — "they’ve set the expectation very high for themselves" — they withstood the pressure well and would continue to grow next season.
"To be honest, I was hesitant to coach because I was still playing and I thought I was going to get frustrated," Mackay-Wright said.
"It actually opened my eyes a lot to just understanding the game from a different perspective, even learning different positions as a coach.
"I think it will help with this new Southern team, just being able to have a different understanding."
Coaching gave her a refreshed vision of what could be on the horizon for her career.
"I’m seeing other parts of football that I can enjoy, not just the playing.
"Obviously that’s my favourite thing, but it’s good to see it won’t just end when it needs to end.
"There’s more I can keep going with."
Seeing young footballers coming through the ranks gave her a new appreciation for the alignment between the national league, and the under-18 national league, where younger players could see a pathway in the sport.
"That kind of thing is just amazing for the development in this region.
"Lots of them have come through Queens, and I can just see that they are really excited about that.
"It’s one of the best developments I’ve seen because when I was a young girl, we didn’t have anything to do with the national league."
Mackay-Wright, who is heading into her sixth season with Southern United, grew up in Nelson, and later moved to Auckland, where she played for Northern in the national league.
When she moved to Dunedin in 2019, Southern United were not taken seriously by the rest of the national league.
"They were a given that you were going to beat them."
But winning the South Central series, a Covid-adapted league, in 2021 was a turning point.
"We realised actually we are so in this and we can beat those teams that we’ve never ever thought about beating."
That shift continued through the years and exploded last year when Southern United made the national league final, eventually losing 2-0 to Auckland United.
It was a truly remarkable season, and while Southern United is a new side this season, they could build off last year’s greatness.
"After last year maybe we turned some heads and people actually realised there’s still big things to come from this region.
"We like to be the underdogs, but now we’ve set ourselves up that we’re not.
"We’re quietly confident, I think, in knowing what we’re about down here now.
"We had that amazing season, and I think all the girls that were a part of it, and even the ones that have watched on just understand what we want from the season and who we identify as a team."
Southern United face Eastern Suburbs — the only team to beat Southern United during last year’s round robin — at Madills Farm at 2pm tomorrow.
They are always a test first up and Mackay-Wright said Southern United wanted to "find our feet" to start the competition.
All national league games are streamed on the Fifa+ App.
