Canberra Raiders debutant Ethan Strange literally grew up on a football field

So much so that when they bought their family home at Tumbi Umbi on the Central Coast, they turned what was a dressage arena into a mini footy field - with lights.

It's no wonder they're about to create their own piece of history when Canberra Raiders young gun Ethan Strange makes his NRL debut against the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne on Sunday.

The Stranges will become the first father-daughter-son combination to coach and play in the NRL and NRLW.

Strange's father John coaches the Sydney Roosters in the NRLW, while his sister Jasmin plays for the Newcastle Knights.

And they all have games within two hours of each other on Sunday, which has seen the Strange family have to think outside of the box.

John will coach the Roosters remotely from Melbourne when they run out against the Cronulla Sharks at Shark Park 900 kilometres away at 12.03pm.

That's so he can be there to watch Strange make his NRL dream come true in the stands with wife Adele at 2pm.

Meanwhile, Jasmin will have to fend for herself having already had her time in the limelight when she takes on Gold Coast in Newcastle at 1.50pm, which will be her fifth NRLW game.

Both kids have grown up around footy, with John coaching Strange from under-6s through to under-13s at the Entrance Tigers before he jumped ship to coach Jasmin when she took up the game at 15.

It's no wonder the dressage arena was given the boot almost as soon as the removalist's truck had driven out the gate of the three-acre property.

"The kids have always been around footy," John told The Canberra Times.

"I put in a footy field at home, with some lights and that in, so they've always had access to the field.

"It's a modified field - it was actually a dressage arena when we bought the property.

"So we turfed it all, put lights in and goal posts in and held a lot of training sessions there with Ethan's team when they were younger."

Strange grew up as an active, sporty kid on the Central Coast - surfing, skateboarding, motorbike riding, and of course footy.

John was there when he tore up the under-19 State of Origin, scoring three tries in a man-of-the-match performance for NSW.

Just like in his NRL debut on Sunday, he played centre for the Blues that night as well.

But John - and more importantly Raiders coach Ricky Stuart - sees his best position as five-eighth.

With Canberra's current five-eighth Jack Wighton set to join South Sydney at the end of the season there's an opening there if the 18-year-old's ready to take it.

Wearing his coach's hat, John felt Strange was ready for the NRL, having been "dominant" in the NSW Cup in recent weeks.

Interestingly, both Strange and John were at the Roosters when a handful of clubs came calling to pry him away.

John urged his son to meet all of them and pick the one he felt comfortable with.

And it was lunch with Stuart that convinced Strange to make the move to Canberra.

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"He developed a real connection that day with Ricky," John said.

"When they came home that day my wife said to me that she felt as though he was going to go there because she said Ricky reminded her of me - just a straight shooter, honest with him and down to earth.

"Because he knew he was going to be leaving me and leaving home, he felt that connection, that Ricky actually cared about him.

"That's who Ethan is. If he feels like someone is invested in him and cares about him he's a very loyal person and he'll want to play for that person, which is basically what he's made his decision on."

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