The talk of the town at Melbourne all summer was the looming breakout of key forward Jacob Van Rooyen.
A dominant key forward has appeared to be the one missing piece of the puzzle for the Demons, with the 19-year-old looking like he could grab a spot in the best 22.
Van Rooyen starred in the VFL last season for the Demons, kicking 36 goals.
However, he did not feature in the club’s practice match win over Richmond and looks like he’s behind Ben Brown and Tom McDonald in the pecking order.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn says Van Rooyen’s strong pre-season lifted the standard of the key forwards around him and brought the best out of Brown and McDonald in particular.
“We’ve got four very solid tall forwards in Ben Brown, Tom McDonald, Jacob and Josh Schache and they’re all in ripping form,” Gawn told SEN Breakfast.
“Jacob was doing some stuff early in the pre-season that we were all like ‘wow, this kid has come back fit, he’s come back ready to train and ready to play and he wants to play Round 1 and he’s ready to be an AFL player.
“He kept that form the whole pre-season, but what that does is it lifts the other guys around you at the same time.
“The level that Tom and Ben have got to, Ben especially towards the end of last year wasn’t in his best form, but he’s come back and there was a phase there where he had three scratch matches in a row leading into that game against St Kilda and he would’ve kicked 30 goals and 15 of them were on Steven May.
“He is in some serious touch. Jacob is a good kid and is going to be a good player for the Demons for a long time, but at the moment he might have to bide his time behind someone is going incredibly well.”
Gawn pointed to another pair of youngsters in Judd McVee and Taj Woewodin as players who could break into the Dees’ side this season.
“Over the last two years we haven’t necessarily changed our side a hell of a lot compared to a few other clubs,” the star ruckman said.
“That means we have a lot of players that have played some good VFL football, won a VFL premiership last year, and we’re just starting to see a couple of them pop in.
“Judd McVee has been playing in the backline who is going head-to-head with Michael Hibberd for that spot. It’ll be interesting to see how the coach goes.
“The one that played on the weekend Taj Woewodin, the first time I’ve sort of seen him in an AFL type of environment and he fitted in really well. I’m looking forward to what Taj can do as well.”
The Dees kick off the 2023 season against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on March 18.
