Ewan Mackinlay thriving with the Murray Bushrangers after a breakout season at Holbrook

Coming off the back of his first full year in senior football with Hume league side Holbrook, the 18-year-old is an exception in a squad packed with rising stars from the Ovens and Murray and Goulburn Valley leagues.

But Mackinlay, who had 18 disposals and two goals from half-forward in Friday's win over the GWS Giants Academy, is more than holding his own.

"Often the kids that come from the district leagues can find the level of training difficult but he's one of our best trainers," Bushies coach Mark Brown said.

"He's got great power, great speed, a fantastic step, he's good over head and he's got a goal sense about him.

"We really like him and he's been seamless in our program.

"There's a perception out there that the Bushies tend to (only) look at Ovens and Murray or Goulburn Valley but that's certainly not the case inside the four walls.

"We treat every kid on their merits, we understand they like to play at different clubs and what we love about Ewan is he's got the sort of traits we look for.

"We don't pick the best players, we pick the most draftable players.

"Often that defers to height or speed and there will be critics of that, we understand that.

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"We know there's people who look at our program and question what we do but we're not here to win games of footy, we're here to hopefully produce kids who are capable of being drafted and playing AFL football."

Mackinlay kicked 53 goals for the Brookers last year but he can expect a different sort of challenge as the NAB League season unfolds.

"We're really keen to give him an opportunity at half-back," Brown said.

"We don't want to throw him completely off-kilter so we'll let him do what he's done best for the last three or four years but then we'll throw him behind the footy and see what he can do."

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