NORTH Melbourne ruckman Majak Daw hopes he's close to earning an elevation to the senior list that will enable him to play his first AFL game.

Daw, who is rookie-listed, has been playing as the main ruckman with the Kangaroos' VFL affiliate Werribee.

He is one of five rookies who hopes to fill the spot on the senior list that has been made available by Tom Curran's addition to the long-term injury list because of a foot concern.

Max Warren, Gavin Urquhart, Brad Mangan and Malcolm Lynch are the other rookies vying to be upgraded.

Daw lowered his colours to Essendon's Tom Bellchambers during the Bendigo Gold's defeat of Werribee at Windy Hill at the weekend, but he's otherwise shown gradual improvement since returning from a knee injury a month into the VFL season.

"My aim for the year is to be more consistent, hopefully get an elevation and hopefully get a senior game," Daw said.

"That's my goal: to play my first game.

"I don't know when it's going to happen. I've just got to be patient."

The 21-year-old has been working one-on-one with former West Coast, Brisbane Bears and North Melbourne ruckman Alex Ishchenko, who's trying to improve Daw's fitness, ruck techniques and game instincts.

"Alex has been a real good mentor," Daw said.

"We've been doing a lot of boxing sessions.

"I've been trying to work on my mental toughness — when I'm tired, just trying to push through that."

The Sudanese-born Daw is one of nine AFL multicultural ambassadors. He was speaking at the Diversity Panel Breakfast that was held at Richmond's ME Bank Centre to kick off this weekend's Multicultural Round.

He revealed that he was taken aback by the support he received after a Port Melbourne supporter had racially abused him during a VFL match last June.

The supporter was banned from all VFL matches for the rest of the season.

"I had to turn my phone off," Daw said. "I couldn't get to sleep because of the amount of messages I was receiving."

Daw is contracted to North Melbourne until the end of 2013.