Hamish McIntosh is heading into his second full year of senior AFL football confident he can adapt to his new role as the Kangaroos' No.1 ruckman.

With last year's first-choice ruckman – David Hale – set to play a key forward role this year, McIntosh has been asked to assume the mantle of first-choice ruck option for the Roos despite having played just 18 AFL games. It is a prospect the big man appears to be revelling in after his team's 2007 pre-season campaign.

"It's been spoken of how long and hard the pre-season has been but now that we're only a few days away from the start of the season, you know all the hard work has been worthwhile," McIntosh said.

"I feel like I'm really well-prepared for this year and I can't wait to get into it, especially knowing I'll probably get first crack at being the team's first choice in the ruck."

The former Murray Bushranger's buoyant mood would have been boosted by his mature performance in the second round of the NAB Cup against Fremantle behemoth Aaron Sandilands.

By his own admission, McIntosh started slowly against the man rated by many as the pre-eminent tap ruckman in the competition, but by full-time he had played a key role in delivering a nine-point win for the Roos over their more fancied opponents.

"In the first half I did everything I could to get on top of him. I was trying everything – I went around him, I ran into him, but I just couldn't get a tap. I thought 'What am I going to do?'.

"So I went out after half-time, changed a few things and a couple of things started to work. I'm still pretty young and learning the game and learning to play in the ruck, so that gave me a bit of encouragement after that game.

"To do alright against a monster like him was great. He's probably the benchmark in the league, so it's given me a bit of an idea where I was at."

With McIntosh and Brad Moran set to lead the club's rucking ranks in 2007, the Roos will have one of the youngest – and most promising – big man stables in the competition. For his part, the 22-year-old seems just as excited about his ruck partner's future as he is about the impending start to the season.

"Brad's a great athlete and he's very fit and strong. He's easily our most improved player in the two years he's been here and I'm sure he's got a heap of improvement left in him.

"With ‘Haley’ spending so much time over pre-season preparing to play up forward, Brad and I have spent a lot of time on the track doing rucking drills together, so I've seen a fair bit of him up close. If he keeps improving at this rate, he's going to be something else."

Seasoned Arden St track watchers will tell you that McIntosh's own improvement has also been nothing short of remarkable across his five pre-seasons at the club.

With limited exposure to the sort of training required at the top level, McIntosh came to the club with a questionable fitness and strength base. With Dean Laidley casting a keen eye on his young charge, McIntosh is slowly developing the kind of physical attributes that will do his natural talent justice.

"Dean's ridden me pretty hard over the past few years because I definitely had to get my fitness up and there's areas on my game I know I need to work on. He's been pretty hard on me but I know it's only because he only wants to see me get better.

"If I want to be able to push forward when I'm not playing in the ruck, I've got to do everything right at training. So I just have to be prepared to be pushed a bit harder. Dean's definitely been able to keep me on track, so I really can't complain."