Grant Hanley boosted by Scotland chance with eye on cementing starting spot
The 26-year-old made his first Scotland start since the Wembley defeat to England in November 2016 as Scotland lost 1-0 to Costa Rica in McLeish's first match back in charge on Friday night.
The centre-back started the first four matches of Scotland's failed World Cup qualifying campaign but his only appearance last year was as a second-half substitute for the injured Charlie Mulgrew in a 2-0 home win over Malta.
Mulgrew and Christophe Berra formed the central defence in an improved second half of the qualifying campaign but the latter was left out of McLeish's squad and Hanley appears to have an advantage as one of the few right-footed options available in central defence.
Hanley has made 28 appearances for Norwich since moving to Carrow Road at the end of August following a frustrating year at Newcastle, where he started just five league games.
And the former Blackburn player is looking to continue pushing on for club and country.
''It was great to be back out there,'' he said. ''Obviously I missed out on the last squad which I was gutted about. But I can understand that, I wasn't playing, I hadn't played a game for a while.
That's what happens, if you're not playing at your club you are not going to get picked for your national team.
So for me it was a huge boost to get back in the squad and to get some minutes under my belt, I was really pleased with it.
It's nice to be playing regularly again and getting a start when I come away.
Any player will tell you, if you are not playing regularly then you are not at your best. It's good to be back playing regularly and feeling that I am going out there and I'm fit.''
Hanley is enjoying working with 77-times capped former centre-back McLeish.
''Obviously it's a bonus for the defenders, the centre-halves especially, to have someone like that who has played at that level and has that much experience,'' Hanley said.
It's important for us to pick up on all the wee things that we can for that.''
Hanley now turns his focus on carrying that second-half improvement into Tuesday's friendly in Budapest against a Hungary side which lost 3-2 at home to Kazakhstan on Friday.
''It's all about improving and learning and taking the positives from Friday night,'' Hanley said. ''The boys will be going into Tuesday to try to get better. It's going to be a tough game, at this level there is never any easy games.''
''You have to be prepared for it, but at this moment in time the most important thing for us is to stay focused on ourselves, keep working hard and keep taking on board the new ideas from the new manager and staff.''