YOUNG gun Jack Viney says he would gladly accept a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, but his own preparation and - most importantly - gaining another win before the season’s end are at the top of his aims for the rest of 2013.
Viney, who had a career best 28 disposals against Fremantle at the MCG on Sunday, and has collected 74 touches in his past three games, has yet to receive a nomination, but has put his name in contention after his efforts against one of the best teams in the business.
“To be honest, it wouldn’t mean a whole heap. It’d be good to have one than not,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“Hopefully, I’ve put a game in where I’ve put my hand up … but it won’t change my preparation or anything I do for the next week. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.
“I’m happy with that, but I would’ve liked a better team performance. But personally, I’m quite happy with that and I think it was probably one of my better games. I tried really hard and I can walk off and hold my head high heading into next week.”
Viney said Melbourne’s 95-point loss to Freo needed to be put into context, given it was playing one of the premiership players and the Demons suffered three injuries.
“We have to be fair on ourselves. Although we want wins, we still have to be fair in our judgment,” he said.
“Considering we only had one rotation for the rest of the game, I certainly didn’t get as many as what I’m used to – and I know the other midfielders are the same – but we fought it out really hard.
“I know I was really physically fatigued and unable to put defensive pressure and run with blokes, so I know the other midfielders were exactly the same.
“To be able to run out the game and just hang in there and show an enormous amount of resilience – that’s what will take us forward.”
Having missed eight weeks with a toe injury, Viney said he wished the season would continue.
“I feel getting momentum in football is the hardest thing, so I feel like the last three or four weeks, I’ve started putting some solid performances [together],” he said.
“I really just want to keep that momentum going – it’s a really hard thing to find momentum and while I’ve got it, I just want to make the most of it.”
