Hard yards paying off for Dragons superman

Macdonald’s gravity-defying try in the 33^rd minute cut the Sharks lead to 10 heading into halftime and proved telling as the Dragons ran the hosts down in the second half.

The 23-year-old’s effort in pulling a Gareth Widdop kick out of the air and planting the ball milimetres inside the touch-in-goal chalk, despite the attention of Valentine Holmes, was enough to grab the attention of AFL scouts.

“I might have to switch codes,” Macdonald joked post-match.

“It goes like that, but when you’re up in the air it feels like you’re up there for a long time. It felt like I was up there for a while and as I was coming down I was just trying to put it down on an angle because I knew if I put it down flat it was going out.

“It was 50-50 there, I thought I had it but then they said ‘no try’ went to the video ref and I doubted myself a bit. When it came up ‘try’ I was pretty happy with it.

“It was a tough first half and we faced a bit of adversity but in the second half we came out firing. We had the wind behind us and we knew if we could hold them to 16 and just play our footy we could get the points.”

While the spectacular try grabbed most of the attention, coach Paul McGregor was just as impressed with the PNG International’s double effort that forced an error from Kurt Capewell five minutes from fulltime, and his whopping 202 run metres, the bulk of them coming out of trouble.

“He had a very good night Nene,” McGregor said.

“We’ve all always cheered his talent, but now his work ethic’s starting to meet his talent. To finish off a movement like that, with no room, and get the ball down was pretty special.

“If he keeps on the right track that kid could do what he should do in footy which is reach the top because he’s a very good player.”

Macdonald said it’s a lesson he’s learned in five seasons since debuting as teenager with the Roosters in 2013, and one he leaned on as he carried a knee injury from lat year’s World Cup through preseason..

“Coming in young, there’s obviously a lot of talented players coming through who get all the attention,” Macdonald said.

“You don’t see all the boys who’ve been playing for years who do all the hard work people don’t see. People see the highlights and the tries but there’s a lot of work that goes into it.

“I feel like every year since I’ve started it’s gotten harder and harder. Defensively taking those hit-ups is so tough with players putting their bodies on the line and just gets tougher and tougher.

“My knee’s been holding me back since the World Cup. It’s been pretty tough but the physios have been right on top of me making sure I’m doing everything right.

“I’m starting to get the rewards for all the hard work I’ve been doing and it feels good just to be out there with the boys.”