Rising Star nominee Jason Horne-Francis couldn't be happier to be a Kangaroo.

More than six months into his Arden Street adventure, the 18-year-old has affirmed his belief in the build to which the club has committed.

"I'm loving my time down here at North," Horne-Francis told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

"We're heading in the right direction. We know it's a long journey, but all the players and coaching staff really want to get better."

Despite a difficult start to the season for the team, the No.1 draft pick has been a picture of consistency.

Horne-Francis has averaged 19.1 disposals, 10.9 contested possessions and 4.6 clearances through seven games, the last six of which he has spent on the ball.

He has only recorded fewer than 18 disposals once, in his first game when he lined up in the forward line, and he still notched four clearances.

So has anything surprised a draftee who appears to be the definition of readymade?

"The speed and the physicality of the game," he acknowledged.

"Whether you've played U18s or in the SANFL as I did, I don’t think anything gets you as ready as playing AFL footy.

"That's been a step up, but I was very well prepared. My family at South Adelaide put me in the right direction."

To become the face of a rebuild is a big burden to bear for a draftee, but Horne-Francis understands the hype and has developed strategies to handle it.

"There's a little bit of pressure," he conceded.

"I just try and do my thing week-in, week-out, just go out there and play footy, and that keeps my mind off it."

Slated for a role in the forward line throughout the pre-season, an early personnel crisis saw Horne-Francis elevated to the midfield halfway through his first match.

It's where he has lined up ever since, and he hasn't looked out of place.

"It's been good, I love being around the ball," he said.

"That's the goal in the long-term, and 'Nobes' (senior coach David Noble) is trying to prepare me well for that which is good.

"With the injuries to 'LDU' (Luke Davies-Uniacke) and 'Taz' (Tarryn Thomas), that gave me the chance to get my midfield time up a bit more."

Horne-Francis has won praise for running in to remonstrate with Carlton players and defend his teammates throughout Saturday night's match.

One particularly heated moment saw him exchange words with Blues journeyman Jack Silvagni.

"It's in my nature, that competitiveness," he explained.

"Sticking up for your teammates is something I love doing. A lot of it was heat of the moment, but that's something that comes naturally.

"None of it was taken to heart. There's a mutual respect there, we didn't say much (after the game) but we shook hands."

Noble added that the resilience and team spirit Horne-Francis demonstrated is one of the aspects that put him at the top of the Roos' draft board.

"We saw some fight and fire in his belly on the weekend, which was great to see," Noble enthused.

"That's what attracted us to Jase … we saw a fair bit of that when he was playing for South Adelaide.

"A few teams have tried to rough him up over the past 12 months. We like the fact he was prepared to stand his ground.

"But what I loved about it was that at the next contest, he went after the ball and got his mitts on the ball again."