Defenders have to be cool under pressure. When other players might crumble they must stand firm and show no sign of weakness. In the heat of the battle, no matter the circumstances, those on the last line have to be reliable and measured.
Jamie Macmillan is young, but already one of North’s most calm and composed backmen on and off the field.
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Take Friday’s media interview after training for example. Throughout the probing examination by this NMFC.com.au reporter, North skipper Andrew Swallow started kicking footballs at Macmillan’s head in an effort to distract, annoy and ultimately hit him in the head.
Instead of calling ‘cut’ on the interview to abuse his mischievous leader and tell him where to go, Macmillan continued the question and answer session as if unperturbed. This despite being a witness to Mason Wood’s ball in the head episode in Utah a few years back.
“He’s not a great kick anyway,” Macmillan said of Swallow’s failed attempts to target him.
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While the 23-year-old was confident Swallow wouldn’t connect with one of his drop punts, he was far less bullish when it came to talk about the weekend’s opposition.
Despite Greater Western Sydney heading into the game ravaged by injury, Macmillan said the Roos will still have to play at their best to win.
“We won’t be taking them lightly at all,’ he said.
“They’ve got some pretty good talent at their club, they’ve had plenty of high draft picks over the last few years so one goes out and another comes in.
“The week’s been about what we want to do and how we want to play and just making sure that when the time comes, we can execute.”
Shane Mumford, Phil Davis, Joel Patfull, Stephen Coniglio, Will Hoskin-Elliott are among the changes for the Giants but Macmillan said the group isn’t focussing on who is out, rather who is in.
Rory Lobb, Aidan Corr, Caleb Marchbank, Jack Steele and Rhys Palmer will play at Spotless Stadium and Macmillan said North has spent a lot of time scouting in preparation.
“We haven’t spoken about it (the GWS injuries) at all to be honest, we just looked at vision of their guys coming in for those that haven’t seen them before.”
“I think (Caleb) Marchbank is about a pick 6 so if you go that high in the draft you’ve certainly got some talent.”
On paper, Macmillan is averaging an equal career-high 17 disposals a game but the 71-gamer takes little confidence out of his ball-gathering ability.
“The role that I play is a lot more about the structure of the side and being able to set up and communicate with other guys in the side and around my position,” he said.
“So just sort of taking a bit of at the end of the day and you don’t really know who many you’ve had, whether you’ve had ten or whether you’ve had twenty so it’s not a big focus.”
Macmillan was added to the club’s leadership group at the start of the year and has relished the opportunity to learn from the senior players and guide his other teammates.
“We have certain KPIs that we want to hit each week and I sort of pride myself on helping the guys achieve them so that’s the main thing for me especially on-field.”
One player he’s particularly happy to be playing alongside is his best mate Shaun Atley who is back after a two-week stint in the VFL.
“I’m glad he’s back in this week but he went back and worked on a few things in the VFL that he was told he needed to work on and just chatting to him, he seemed to go all right and has improved and got a bit of confidence so we’ll look for it from him this weekend.”
