JACK Macrae is back in the middle of the ground, and thriving.
Squeezed out of an inside midfield role at the Western Bulldogs, the 30-year-old premiership star crossed to St Kilda in the off-season and has hit the ground running.
Macrae attended an average of only 12 per cent of the Dogs' centre bounces last year and didn't venture into the middle of the ground in 11 of his 19 matches.
After just two matches at St Kilda, he's attended an average of 79 per cent of centre bounces, recording a cumulative 69 disposals and 21 clearances.
"Obviously I've always had a lot of belief in myself that I can perform at a high level, so it's good to bring my strengths to the game to help others," Macrae told AFL.com.au after St Kilda's win over Geelong on Saturday night.
"I'm really enjoying the young boys and some of our real prime movers getting them involved in the game as well.
"It always takes a bit of time [to mesh]. I played 200 games with 'Bont' and 'Libba' (Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore), and there's still times you don't always get it right.
"I've really enjoyed working with 'Steeley' (Jack Steele), Hugo (Garcia), (Marcus) Windhager, these guys are a really young group, and they're just so hungry, so they've been really easy to work with."
Having debuted in 2013 and previously served as the Western Bulldogs' vice-captain for a few seasons, Macrae has also naturally fallen into an unofficial leadership role at the Saints.
"I've never been the most outspoken, loudest player, but I really take a lot of enjoyment out of helping others, bringing the younger boys along and it's so easy when they're so hungry. Obviously at my age now, the boys look up to you a bit, and hopefully I can really set them on their way," he said.
St Kilda jumped out to a 41-point lead over Geelong on Saturday night before the Cats came roaring back into the game, with the Saints ultimately hanging on by just seven points.
"We know they're a terrific team and everyone thinks they're going to be right up there at the end of the season, it's really terrific," Macrae said.
"Especially the first three quarters, our brand and probably our pressure rating and things that we didn't get done against Adelaide, it was a really clear focus going into the game – outnumber, contested ball, contest and our pressure which really came out, which was great.
"These moments in really close games; you saw Liam O'Connell's mark late, Nas (Wanganeen-Milera) getting a touch on the line, and everyone had their little moments late, which is so important."
