Sounds pretty good to me, although the highlighted part of this article better be a beat up;
McConnell's eye-opener
10:44:25 AM Fri 4 March, 2005
Mic Cullen
Exclusive to afl.com.au
For Daniel McConnell, the Wizard Home Loans Cup has been a real eye opener.
The 18-year-old has already spent a year on West Coast's list, but in 2004, at just 17 and with final-year school commitments, he was never going to play senior footy.
But 2005 has arrived, and McConnell, packing an extra six kilograms he's added in the gym since his arrival and with senior WAFL experience under his belt, is ready for the big-time.
McConnell has played both Wizard Cup matches so far, and looked good early in both before fading somewhat, but it's been a promising start for the boy from Vermont.
Initially homesick, the 190cm key position/midfielder says he's more than happy to be in Perth.
"I'm really enjoying it. It was good to have a full year here and get to know the guys a lot better, and then have a big pre-season," he said.
"This year I'll just concentrate on football as much as I can."
McConnell played with East Perth last season and said the experience of playing against men for the first time was invaluable, although the transition to AFL level was still a bit of a shock.
"It was the first time I played senior footy, so it took a few games to get used to it, but once I did I really enjoyed it.
"I did have the option of staying in Melbourne for a year to finish school and I would have been just playing in the under-18 competition, so I think it's definitely helped me develop for this year.
"The WAFL's a great competition, but the AFL's definitely a step up, it's pretty quick," he said with a grin.
New West Coast development coach Neil Ross has been doing a fair bit of work with the younger players, working with them to help smooth the transition to the top level.
"He's trying to get the guys playing in the WAFL to the next level, basically," McConnell said.
"So he's working with us to see what areas we need improvement in, and so once we get to the next level that we can do well there as well.
"He's got me to set my goals out and set what I want to achieve, whether it's the skin-fold stuff or the weights room. Extra things that will help my footy as well."
Much as he likes the new experience of playing in the midfield, 'D-Mac', as he's known at the club, is aware that he's picked about the toughest one in the competition to break into.
"There's a lot of guys in there that have obviously proven themselves at the highest level, but I'll play wherever I can.
"Even watching them at training, the guys like Chad Fletcher, Ben Cousins and Chris Judd, they're just very hard workers off the field, and I think that just shows that if you want to make it at that level how hard you have to work."
A Richmond supporter when he was growing up, McConnell said it was a relief to be selected in the draft so he had some justification for ditching the perennial underperformers.
"It was a good excuse to stop barracking for them when I got picked up by West Coast," he said with a laugh.
