Despite his nomination as the Round 1 AFL Rising Star, hard-running, young Richmond wingman Kamdyn McIntosh remains realistic about his prospects for the rest of season 2015.
After an excellent debut, where he played an instrumental role in the Tigers’ 27-point victory over Carlton last Thursday night, McIntosh is aware of the need for consistent form over the course of the season to validate the hype.
“It’s just one game, so definitely next week I’m going to need to show up and perform how I did on the weekend. But if I put a few more games like that together, I think I can hold my spot in the team,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of going through each week and performing at that AFL standard . . . not dropping off and staying there as much as I can.”
McIntosh also spoke about the difficulty he had faced in making the senior team, after a couple of seasons marred by injury.
“The journey’s been long and daunting at times, especially with the injuries I’ve had. But with the Club, they’re tremendous in supporting the players and getting through those bad times that the players experience.
“To have all the players by my side when I had my injuries, I couldn’t be more thankful for it. They all supported me off the field, as well, to get me where I can be.
“It was my first full pre-season I’ve done this year. I felt a lot of confidence this year going into the NAB Cup . . . I think that was a terrific lead-up against Carlton. It was just good to get that first game and hopefully go forward from there.”
McIntosh feels his new-found notoriety is something he will have to adjust to, but it is not something he’s places too much emphasis on.
“It’s expected because you’ve got all your friends back home seeing you in the paper and that sort of thing, saying congratulations and things like that, so there is a little bit. But to me, I’m still going to go through each week,” he said.
“This has been my first highlighted season so far, so it’s all still new to me to be highlighted in games.
“It’s only a once-off game, so far on Thursday, so I hope to see myself there in the near future and to be consistent, but time will tell.”
