Playing on former teammate Ben Ross in the VFL was a significant task in the first round of the season, but one he absolutely excelled at.
At the half-way mark, Box Hill’s Ross, a Liston Medal winner, had just three disposals and when the final siren sounded, he had less than ten to his name. Meanwhile McGenniss collected 16 for himself.
It was a dominant display described as a ‘double whammy’ by North development manager Ben Dyer.
“It was a really disciplined performance and most importantly, a four-quarter performance,” Dyer said after the match.
“Sometimes against real talented players you can have a lapse in concentration for a couple of minutes but Timmy kept his focus and did a great job.
“When you’re in a run-with role, if you can hurt them offensively as well and find more of the ball, it’s a double whammy for the person you’re playing on.”
McGenniss knew early he’d be playing on Ross, and quickly devised a way to stop him.
“Playing with him last year, he was one of our top players and loves to run and carry the ball, so that was the main thing I tried to take out of his game…that space he could really run into.
“I tried to make his possessions as pressured as possible and just tried to play my normal game and stick to my strengths which is my running.”
The 20-year-old is one of the Kangaroos’ most improved young players and his ball use and game-sense are areas he has worked hard on.
“He’s not wasting many possessions,” Dyer noted.
“They’re not dangerous options that he’s taking but he’s spotting players up really well and making the right decisions.
“He’s been steadily improving as the weeks have gone on and his positioning as a half-back has been really impressive.
“This week he was able to go to a real damaging player and really restrict his influence at stoppages and also on the spread.”
For McGenniss, his personal exploits mean nothing in light of Werribee’s disappointing 25-point loss.
“We were probably on top for three-quarters of the day, it’s just a wasted game for us really,” he said in the rooms after the match.
The Tigers kicked themselves out of the match against the Hawks registering just 7 goals and a woeful 16 behinds.
“If we had’ve kicked straight and finished off, we could have buried them early and then run over the top of them.”
