MELBOURNE could make up to a dozen changes – and include a host of senior players – for Saturday’s NAB Cup clash against St Kilda at Casey Fields.

Vice captain Nathan Jones said this was likely to occur after Melbourne played a young and inexperienced team during its two point win against Port Adelaide at Renmark last Sunday.

Jones, who did not play in the win, praised his teammates’ performance in country South Australia, but added that he was eager to return this weekend.

"I'm looking forward to it. The boys did a really good job in Port with a pretty inexperienced team, [but] I think we'll welcome back some pretty senior players,” he said at AAMI Park on Wednesday.

“There are up to 12 changes [this round] and the next couple of weeks are a good opportunity for us to get some continuity with our round one team, or the best team we can put out on the park.

“We've got two trial games to keep working on a few areas … but the real focus is getting continuity into our team and getting the best team on the park,  [so we can] move forward into that round one game."

Along with Jones, Melbourne rested Jack Grimes, Chris Dawes, Tom McDonald, Jack Watts, Jordie McKenzie, Jeremy Howe, David Rodan, Mark Jamar, Colin Garland, Shannon Byrnes, Lynden Dunn, Jimmy Toumpas and Jack Viney from the second NAB Cup round.

A significant amount of those players are likely to play against the Saints.

Jones said last round’s win was important purely from a confidence perspective.

“A win is a win and we haven't had many over the last few years, so just to get that [winning] feeling amongst the group [was important because] it was an inexperienced team and a few had not even played a game yet,” he said.

“So for them to really dig in ... and for them to stand up, implement the structures and things we wanted, is a great morale booster for those guys.”