NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott was thrilled with the performance of Hamish McIntosh into Saturday night's NAB Cup loss to the Sydney Swans as the ruckman gradually regains match fitness.
McIntosh was outstanding for the Kangaroos at a sodden Bruce Purser Reserve in Sydney's west, finishing with 23 possessions, eight marks, 14 hit-outs and three tackles in the 17-point defeat.
Making his efforts all the more admirable, he was faced with a rotating Swans ruck division, including Shane Mumford, Mike Pyke and Mark Seaby.
After missing a year of football due to Achilles surgery, Scott felt there were some excellent signs for his ruckman.
"He was really, really good," he said.
"He had stints against Pyke, Seaby and Mumford, so he had a pretty good work out and I thought he looked really good, really healthy.
"We were much keener to get more game time into him than [Todd] Goldstein given he's missed so much footy over the last 12 or 18 months.
"So the way he came through was really pleasing."
Most AFL clubs are still to determine whether to go with one ruckman and use other players in pinch-hitting roles, or field two traditional ruck specialists.
But Scott is under no doubt about his philosophy, keen to continue the Goldstein-McIntosh partnership.
But he is also mindful of monitoring McIntosh's workload given his recent injury troubles.
"We haven't mapped out game time for him because he's missed so much," Scott said when asked if McIntosh would play against the Western Bulldogs next week.
"We'll just see how he pulls up this week as to whether we play him a full game next week.
"But we're pretty keen to keep using him and Goldstein together to continue working on that partnership."
Brent Harvey continues to show no signs of slowing down, kicking three goals and finishing with16 disposals, while Scott was also pleased with the performance of some of his younger players, including Shaun Atley and the rookie-listed Aaron Mullett.
He found plenty of positives in the 2.9.10 (82) to 0.9.11 (65) defeat.
"Wet and slippery conditions and you always know what you're going to get from the Swans, a good, honest practice game," he said.
"For a practice match it was exactly what we wanted.
"It was a close game, they just took their opportunities a bit better and kicked the ball when they should've, while we tried to overuse it a bit."
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