IF the game’s taught Harrison Macreadie anything these past few months, it’s the importance of remaining “glass half full”.
“I think I’m generally a positive person, but I suppose what I’ve learnt most is keeping a positive mindset,” Macreadie said over lunch in the Carlton Café this week.
“I still feel like I’m a recruit compared to the veterans, and I feel like I’m still learning a lot. I’ve learnt there are always going to be highs and lows, so it’s been about resilience through a year which has been pretty frustrating at times . . . and of getting myself right with no more setbacks.”
Macreadie’s wretched run with injury, predominantly to his quadriceps and hamstrings, has kept the eight-game defender off the paddock for the best part of three months.
“I’ve had a fair few setbacks this year injury-wise,” said the boy from Henty, taken with selection No.47 in the 2016 AFL draft when Greater Western Sydney opted not to match the Blues’ bid for the former’s Academy player.
“I came back from the off-season pretty fit and felt good but ended up doing my left quad in the second session of the pre-season,” Macreadie recalled.
“I then copped a bit of bone bruising running into big Levi (Casboult), then did my other quad and copped a couple of hammies.”
Harrison Macreadie played eight senior games in his debut season last year. (Photo: AFL Media)
Macreadie’s not sure if he’s kicked a black cat, but given the number of players sidelined, any self-respecting Blues fan could be forgiven for thinking Macreadie was part of a conga line of black cat kickers, what with no fewer than 16 players sidelined with assorted ailments.
Macreadie’s weeks and months out have prompted introspection and self-analysis – and Carlton’s Head of Development Shane Watson has proved to be a valuable mentor. There’s been no shortage of advice sought by him either in terms of his recovery, with anyone and everyone from Sam Docherty down similarly sidelined.
As he said: “There’s no one bloke I’ve asked – there’s been a handful I’ve turned to regarding recovery”.
Macreadie made it back to the family farm at Henty during his convalescence - only to discover to his chagrin that most of his mates had left for the big smoke.
Henty, by the way, is, a southwestern New South Wales municipality sandwiched between Albury and Wagga Wagga. Asked to best describe old Henty town, Macreadie replied: “There’s not a lot there . . . there’s one main street and you wouldn’t want to blink because you’d be straight through it”.
“But they do have the Henty Machinery Field Days, which are pretty big days and people come from everywhere,” he insisted.
Back in Melbourne, Macreadie shares the company of fellow lodgers Zac Fisher and Sam Petrevski-Seton, during which time they’ve each traded experiences both on and off the track over meals cooked on a rotational basis.
“Samo’s definitely the best cook because he has a lot of his mum’s recipes which he whips up by memory – my favourite is his sweet chilli chicken stir fry, I can fall back on a roast and 'Fish' can whip up a pretty basic bolognese.”
Through these autumn and winter months of 2018, Macreadie’s fronted up to VFL and AFL club games as a rather irritated spectator. Watching on, as he readily admitted, has been the hard part, but with six games remaining there’s still plenty to play for.
“Being injured watching on and wanting to help the players out there has been difficult,” Macreadie said. “But it’s also given me motivation – and there’s a real opportunity to get back out there, get some clarity and do the best that I can in the games that are left.”
