STEVEN May is on the verge of his Melbourne Football Club debut this weekend and says this moment has been a long time coming.
The 27-year-old made the move across from Gold Coast during the trade period and has had to adjust to life as a Melbourne player over the summer.
“The whole footy program and coaching, everything is different, in a good way I suppose,” May said on the club’s Inside Melbourne podcast.
May has thoroughly enjoyed settling into the club and believes the move will be beneficial for his career.
“It’s just refreshing – you wake up and you’re excited to come to training,” he said.
“When you’ve been doing something for so long in the same way for eight years, you can get over it sometimes.
“You just need a bit of a change up, a bit of stimulus in the brain I think.”
While May is loving the challenge his new club has presented, he admits it hasn’t been an easy off-season.
“Learning the new game plan and asking questions every day – it feels like a new school,” he said.
“The boys have been great.
“Training was pretty hard. When I got suspended I had to go back to do a mini pre-season so I wasn’t too happy about that, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“It’s been exciting and enjoyable.”
After being suspended for a bump on Brisbane’s Jarrod Berry in the Demons’ final pre-season game of 2019, May was forced to watch his new side’s Round 1 loss to Port Adelaide from the sidelines.
But with the chance to line up against the Cats on Saturday night, May is ready to finally pull on the red and blue.
“From the moment I asked for a trade, to actually getting the trade done, and then the pre-season which was grueling, and I played in JLT2 and got rubbed out, so it just feels like it’s not going to happen,” he said.
“It’s my fault, but luckily it’s a long season so hopefully Round 2 I’m back in the team.
“It’ll just be a surreal moment I think. It’s been such a big build up in terms of in my head and relocating my life and my career, all to play footy.
“So that’s ultimately what I want to do.”
Melbourne’s Round 2 team will be announced on Thursday night as May hopes to line-up against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium this weekend.
Listen to the full podcast below:
In Episode 32 of Inside Melbourne, Lily gets caught up in traffic and special guest Steven May joins us as we recap the Round 1 loss against Port Adelaide (4:00). We discuss our Round 1 debutants (7:00), the team's search for energy and spirit (10:00), Steven's verdict from the JLT (24:40) and much, much more.
