DANIEL McKenzie has recovered from the virus that kept him sidelined for St Kilda’s pre-season fixtures.
The 18-year-old, who was selected with pick 22 in the 2014 National Draft, missed a chunk of training that ultimately put an end to his NAB Challenge campaign before it began.
Now back to full health, he laid seven tackles and played a solid game for Sandringham last Sunday in a VFL practice match.
“I don’t think I missed too much training that I won’t be able to catch up on,” McKenzie told SAINTS.com.au.
“Probably the running is what I need to get back up to speed on because they did a lot of that, plus match simulation, while I was away.”
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Sandringham coach and St Kilda development coach Paul Hudson was pleased with McKenzie’s performance on the weekend.
“Daniel really cracked in,” Hudson said in his VFL player review.
“He’s lightly built but that didn’t stop him burrowing in… Daniel coped with the pace of the game fine playing on the wing and half-back, for him it will be just about getting used to the bigger bodies.”
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For a brief period the athletic midfielder kept his club visits to a minimum, balancing the need to speak with club doctors, dieticians and fitness staff with the risk of infecting teammates.
“I didn’t want to be around the boys too much when I wasn’t feeling well in case it was contagious,” he said.
“I lost a little bit of weight and am putting that back on now. I don’t expect it will affect my season… it was just a hiccup.”
While away from the club, St Kilda held an intra-club game, played Brisbane in Moreton Bay and defeated Essendon at Morwell.
McKenzie desperately wished he could be out there playing alongside fellow draftees Paddy McCartin, Hugh Goddard and Jack Lonie, but it was not until the club’s final NAB Challenge game where the ex-Oakleigh Charger felt properly envious.
“Not playing didn’t really hit home for the first few games,” he conceded.
“But the last match, against Hawthorn, on the big stage at Etihad really made me jealous. I wanted to be out there playing against the best.
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First year Saints players with Nick Riewoldt and Alan Richardson in Tasmania earlier this year.
“I guess it’s always annoying being on the sidelines and not being out there with the guys.
“But there was good support around it and the boys still got around me, so it didn’t feel as if I was on the outside of the group or anything like that.”
McKenzie’s greatest strength is his athleticism. At 184cm, he can play on tall and small opponents and finished second in the agility run (8.10sec) and third in the running vertical jump (94cm), at last year’s Draft Combine.
Instinctively McKenzie is defensively minded - Sunday’s performance in the VFL demonstrated that - but to debut this season, he said it was the attacking half of his game that must improve.
“I’m hoping to debut at some stage. But I also know I need to work on aspects of my game to get that opportunity,” he said.
“It was a fairly scrappy game so I didn’t have too many opportunities to show my pace, but I did go for one run and a few bounces. That shows that I can play at the VFL pace.”
“Basically I need to get more of the ball to show I’m ready to step up another level.”
