North Melbourne coach Brad Scott confirmed the selection on Thursday afternoon.
"That's terrific for Jamie, a young Scotch College boy so he's increased the intelligence of our 22 dramatically," Scott said.
"He's had a really good month of VFL footy and he's ready to make his senior debut.
“Robbie Tarrant’s broken his thumb so we’ll restructure our backline a bit. Jamie will come in and support Scott Thompson, Nathan Grima and Michael Firrito.”
North Melbourne took Oakleigh Charger Macmillan with the 37th pick at last year’s NAB AFL Draft.
While the 18-year-old is locked in for this week, Scott said the Kangaroos would take as long as possible to judge the fitness of Sam Wright, who was concussed after receiving a heavy knock from Richmond’s Trent Cotchin last Sunday.
“We’re going to be really cautious with him. As he was saying at half-time, he’s absolutely right to play and he’s raring to go. We’ve got to be a little bit careful with him. He’s had a whole lot of scans this week,” he said.
“We’ll train this afternoon and wait right until the deadline to put our side in. All that being said I can’t honestly say whether he’s going to play but we won’t take any risks with him, that’s for sure.”
Scott took time to praise his former teammate Jason Akermanis, who was sacked by the Western Bulldogs on Wednesday after falling out with the club.
Scott played in two of the Brisbane Lions’ three premiership sides with Akermanis, and said it was important to remember him for his entire career rather than the circumstances in which it ended.
“The fact is that if this is the end of his career it is the end of an unbelievable career. To play 300 games, three premierships and win a Brownlow medal, there are very few players who’d ever reach his heights,” he said.
“I think it’s also worth noting that clubs don’t come to these decisions lightly. The decision at Brisbane, not that it was my decision but the decision to let him go when he was at the peak of his powers was an incredibly difficult one.
"I’m certainly not privy to what happens at the Bulldogs but no doubt the decision they had to make was an incredibly difficult one as well.”
“I’m not sure what has happened at the Bulldogs. They’ve made their decision for their reasons. All I’d like to say is I think the greater football community have got to realise that these decisions are not made lightly. You don’t let a player of that calibre go for no reason.”
