On Thursday, he finally received the news he’d been waiting for.
“Brad told me I was in the side during training and he spoke to me after as well. I won’t find out until later today if I’ve got a specific assignment. It’s more about playing my role and contributing well for the team,” Macmillan told kangaroos.com.au.
With four games under his belt already including a standout 22 possession game in round 19 against Fremantle in 2010, the 19 year-old believes he can take his game to a new level.
“It’s been a long pre-season and I had a few things to work on. I played a bit of NAB Cup but went back out to the VFL and worked on a few more things and have managed to get back in which is great.
"Last year when I was playing VFL it was all about getting one game and making my debut, but this year there’s nothing more that you want than getting back to AFL level. You just can’t compare the thrill, enjoyment and skill level in the AFL. It’s a completely different scenario for me than last year.”
And he says he has his nerves under control…so far.
“There are less nerves this time…that said though I’m sure come game time they’ll be back up, but at the minute I have less nerves. I have a better and settled preparation and know how to go about things. At the minute I’m alright.”
Like most footballers these days, Macmillan identified fitness as a major area for improvement over the pre-season. That’s why he teamed up with Dietician Jona Segal, the club’s best runner, over the holidays before heading overseas.
“Obviously going to Utah has helped my fitness a lot and coming back and having a full pre-season for the first time has helped. So fitness has obviously improved, it’s just more about the defensive side of my game that the coaches wanted me to improve so I’ve been working hard at that in the VFL and at training.”
Coming into a North side which is still winless after four matches is tough, but the youngster has a level headed approach to handling the weight of expectation that will be on him and his team-mates.
“I think it’s a matter of just concentrating on playing your own game and not worrying too much about what’s happened in the weeks before. Coming into this game, it’s a fresh start and has nothing to do with what happened last week aside from us needing to identify where we went wrong and improve on those areas.
“No team wants a loss but as Brad (Scott) has already said, we are going to be pretty fired up being zero and four…the boys are pretty keen to get out there and get a win.”
