A
Marist Saints junior, McLean began his career with the
Waitakere City Raiders in the
Lion Red Cup in 1994. He played for the Raiders throughout all three years of the tournaments existence. In 1995 McLean made the
New Zealand Residents side when they played a warm up match against the
New Zealand national rugby league team. In 1996 McLean played for
Auckland in a match for the
Rugby League Cup, for North Zone against South Zone and for the
New Zealand XIII in the
Pacific Challenge. He also played at fullback for the Raiders in the
1996 Lion Red Cup grand final, which the Raiders lost 34–22 to the
Counties Manukau Heroes. In 1997 he joined the
North Sydney Bears and played with them for three seasons. He represented the Rest of the World side that year against
Australia. ==References==