However, McGill was one player who rose above the side's playing record to win respect as a player.
He first played against the All Blacks in 1968 after the highly regarded Jim Lenehan retired. In the tour's opening game, against Sydney, McGill kicked two penalty goals in the 9-14 loss. He was selected for the Junior Wallabies, who played the All Blacks under lights in Adelaide. While beaten 3-43, McGill followed that with another appearance against the tourists for New South Wales, a 5-30 loss.
But he showed enough form to win the fullback for the first Test, landing a conversion and two penalty goals in the 11-27 loss.
In the famous second Test at Brisbane, he kicked 15 points to break the 46-year-old individual Test scoring record for Australia. However, the game ended controversially when a penalty try was awarded to the All Blacks in the last minute for a 19-18 win.
R.H. Chester and N.A.C. McMillan noted in Centenary – 100 Years of All Black Rugby, when the All Blacks were down 14-18, "With two minutes remaining [Bill] Davis headed for a gap and punted ahead. His opposite number, [Barry] Honan, bowled him over with a late tackle as the All Black centre tried to pursue the ball into the in-goal area. At the same time, [Alan] Cardy obstucted [Grahame] Thorne as the latter went to follow Davis' kick. Referee Kevin Crowe awarded a penalty try to New Zealand and [Fergie] McCormick goaled to win the Test by 19-18."
In the series, Australia was coached by former All Black halfback Des Connor, who used two-man lineouts to upset the All Blacks' flow.
Injury denied him the chance to perform on the end-of-year tour to Britain, but back in Australia, he played 16 consecutive Tests, ending with the 1972 tour of New Zealand.
It was a tough assignment, as the Wallabies won only five of the 13 games on tour and became known as the "Woeful Wallabies." McGill played in 10 of the games, including the three Tests.
The tour proved the low point before a revival lifted Australia to the highest levels, resulting in the 1979 Bledisloe Cup win and the renewed rivalry with the All Blacks that dominated the later years of the 20th Century.
McGill played his 21st and final Test a year later when Tonga achieved a boilover 16-11 win in Brisbane. McGill finished with 72 Test points, an Australian record that stood until Paul McLean passed it in 1976.