McIntosh was out-pointed by Collingwood’s Josh Fraser in the Kangaroo’s gritty seven-point win in round five.
When asked of his own display, the emerging star gave a frank assessment.
“No, not great,” McIntosh said
“I think Josh got away from me a bit too much and he kicked a few goals which wasn’t too great.
“But … I fought back in the last quarter and contributed a little bit in the end, and we got the win.
“Hopefully I can bounce back to a bit of form this week".
The Kangaroos will need McIntosh, considered stiff by some to miss out on All-Australian selection last year, to be at his best in round six when they face the Sydney Swans.
In form Swan Darren Jolly was arguably his team’s best against Geelong last week, and regardless of whether Peter 'Spida' Everitt makes a much anticipated return to the AFL this weekend, McIntosh knows he’ll be in for a tough afternoon.
“I think he’s [Spida] 50-50 at the minute but if not I think Jolly’s in pretty good form and Lewis Roberts-Thomson is doing the other ruck work, so they’re both going pretty well,” McIntosh said.
The 23-year-old said that, after such an impressive 2007 season, he was merely trying to “stick to the basics” in a bid to maintain his good form.
“You put expectations on yourself but I think the best thing to do is just to play your part for the team and I think the rest of your game will come from there,” he said.
“If you put too many expectations [on yourself] and think ‘you’ve got to do this and do that’, then your game won’t go anywhere.”
