Kicking sessions with Matthew Boyd and contested ball drills with Luke Dahlhaus are all in a day’s work for Jackson Macrae after being drafted to the Western Bulldogs in last Thursday’s AFL Draft.
The midfield recruit knows he has a big Summer ahead as he works towards getting match fit and bulking up his slim frame.
“Speaking to the coaches and some previous players who have recently been through their first years, they just told us ‘we ease you into it’ and the main focus is just getting your body right up until Christmas,” Macrae said.
“Then probably after Christmas we will really step it up a lot more… about 60% of the work load we are doing at the moment.
“You want to play footy and you want to compete with all the other boys. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating getting pulled out of drills and things like that but there is a method to it and the Club has our personal welfare as the number one priority.
“We want to stay healthy and improve as best as we can… you are not going to get any better by being injured.”
Macrae learned first-hand just how hard you have to work to win the ball - even at training - lining up against fellow teammate Luke Dahlhaus during the week.
“Definitely an awesome experience doing some one on one with Dahly and just trying to learn as much as I can in the first few days and getting as much information and knowledge as I can get from all the players and all the coaches,” he said.
“Seeing guys like Boyd and [Daniel] Crossy on tv throughout your junior years and then the next minute you are warming up with them and doing kicking sessions with them.”
Accepting that a lot of time will be spent in the gym, the Oakleigh Chargers product has also taken time out to work on his technique in the weights room with the Club’s new Strength Coach Andy Barnett.
“Mainly not heavy weights at the moment, just getting technique right and then they will slowly build us up and that is definitely what I am going to spend a lot of time doing,” he said.
The creative midfielder is ready to get his hands dirty and put in the hard work to give momentum to his AFL career.
