FORWARD line coach Max Rooke has heaped praise on one of his charges, Charlie Spargo, who kicked two goals and had 18 touches on debut against Essendon at Etihad Stadium last Sunday.

Rooke said Spargo quite simply “looked like he belonged” at the highest level.

“That doesn’t always happen in your first game, but you could see the speed of the game didn’t worry him – it probably helped him, if anything, compared to the VFL,” he told Melbourne Media.

“He was playing at a quicker level, so he had less time to make decisions, but those guys who make early decisions get rewarded more in the AFL than VFL, so it was good to see.”

Rooke was not only pleased with Spargo, but Mitch Hannan and Bayley Fritsch, who both returned to the team and kicked three goals each.

“The fact we had a few different faces last round probably helped energise the group. Those guys that came in all did really good jobs, so hopefully we’ve got the same mindset this week,” he said.

“The [inclusions up forward] all showed what they can do. Some of Charlie’s work showed how much he was looking after his teammates. His pressure and tackling was brilliant.

“Mitch Hannan was the same – his speed to get after the opposition and his tackling pressure inside 50 was exactly what we wanted. Bayley did was he does – finds the footy and uses it really well for us.”

Rooke said he had relished his move to forward line coach this year.  

“I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ve got some great blokes to work with, and I lean on the players a fair bit, along with the other coaches,” he said.

“Guys like ‘Nibbler’ (Alex Neal-Bullen) and ‘Melky’ (Jake Melksham) – they help drive the messages a lot. Tommy McDonald came back on the weekend and he’s the same, along with ‘Hoges’ (Jesse Hogan).

“We’ve relied a lot on ‘Hoges’ driving the messages and we give those guys a bit of a licence to run the show a little bit on game day, which is pretty important.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s clash against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, Rooke said it would be a genuine test for Melbourne.

“We know the Saints are going to be as desperate as anyone to try and get a win, so we’ve got to have the same mindset as we did against Essendon – and as we should have every week,” he said.