North Melbourne draftee Jamie MacMillan has faced one of the toughest tests of his career so far and has come out with flying colours.

The 18 year-old was given the task of playing full back on prolific VFL goal-kicker Nick Sautner when his Werribee Tigers took on the Sandringham Zebras on Sunday.

From the opening bounce, MacMillan didn’t take a step backwards and placed an enormous amount of physical pressure on his opponent.

While the Tigers ultimately lost the war to the tune of 46-points, MacMillan was able to win his battle and hold Sautner to just two goals three - both goals, it must be pointed out, came from free kicks.

“I spoke to Jason Lappin and Shane Watson and they really wanted me to improve the defensive side of my game so it was a great opportunity for me to play deep,” MacMillan told kangaroos.com.au.

“I really just tried to be more physical and use my body more in the contests.”

Told of his assignment on Friday night, MacMillan had to seek advice from his teammates on how to play on the experienced forward.

“I knew of him (Sautner) but was unaware of how he played his footy so the guys at Werribee were really good to me and let me know how to go about it.”

MacMillan says it also helped having some bigger bodies around him during the match.

“Alan Obst really looked after me and kept an eye on me the whole time. When things got a little bit heated, Obba was in there flying the flag and he really stuck up for me.”

Used to playing a more free-flowing style, the 37th pick in the 2009 National Draft said he deliberately threw himself into every contest and tried to change the way he normally played.

“Being more physical on my opponent was something I made a conscious effort to do and it helped me to really block his leads and restrict his leading patterns.

“I’m happy to take on the responsibility and do the job at full forward, centre half-back or back flank…I’m really not fussed.”