MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos says Mark Jamar’s attitude has been “fantastic” as the ruckman continues to press for senior selection.

Jamar has played for Casey since round [2] but on Thursday was one of three players added to Melbourne’s extended squad for the round 16 match against Brisbane.

Roos said the introduction of the substitute rule had made it difficult to play two ruckmen in the same side.

“He’s an AFL ruckman and there’s no doubt, pre-sub, we’d [have] two of our three ruckmen playing,” Roos said.

“It is hard to pick two ruckmen these days and he’s probably more a victim of that [rule].

“Jake [Spencer] played really well early in the year and got himself in (the team), Max [Gawn] played really well and got himself in [and] Mark was never really out of form, there was just a few things we wanted him to work on.

“So it is hard but by the same token you do need a ruck division – guys coming in and out and putting pressure on each other.”

Roos said Jamar’s approach to playing at VFL level had stood out over the past few weeks.

“He’s been fantastic, I’ve spoken to him two or three times over the past couple of weeks, just encouraging him and been really pleased with the way he performed,” he said.

“Last week was just a shocking game in terms of weather, it was raining the whole day out at Casey and it was just hard to get any flow at all, it was sort of stoppage after stoppage but his attitude in those conditions, as with all the guys, was fantastic.

“We’re just encouraging those guys to continue to play well and it’ll just make us a better footy club if Casey’s winning, which they have been.”

In the absence of a second ruckman, key forward Chris Dawes has taken on some part-time ruck duties.

Roos said Dawes had been working to grow into the role while ensuring he was a competitive presence in the forward line.

“He’s playing some different roles, particiularly with the ruck role that’s a little bit foreign to him and he’s been a little bit injured [at times].

“I think forwards really are asked to compete – the good forwards are really able to bring the ball to ground and it’s a very different system now with the way teams defend.

“We’re working hard with all our forwards and Dawesy’s one of them - just trying to find another notch where he’s at.

“But in terms of his output we think it’s been pretty reasonable throughout the course of the year.”

Jack Grimes was also added to the extended interchange and Roos said the defender was still an important part of Melbourne’s line up.

“Grimesy we still believe is a really important player for us,” he said.

“He played well last week [but] he missed a couple of games so probably in an ideal world I’d love him to play another game and get fit.

“We’ll have a look… and see what we come up with this afternoon.”