RUCKMAN Jake Spencer will stay with the club until the end of at least 2016, after inking a new two-year deal.

Spencer, 24, has played 29 matches since he made his AFL debut in round one, 2009. The Queenslander said he was “very happy” to remain a Demon and was determined to keep building his game.

“Being out of contract, it was a good relief to know that the club wants to keep you. I’m very happy to get it done now, rather than at the end of the year,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“The coaching staff said they had seen enough of the list to offer certain blokes contracts and I was one of those guys.

“They approached my manager and I was ecstatic with that news and it came about pretty quick and I was delighted with the outcome.”

Spencer said he was “a little bit surprised” his new deal had been secured now, but he was rapt all the same.

“Given my age, I haven’t achieved as much as I would’ve liked to in the time I’ve had at the club, but I’m really happy the club thinks that I’ve got a bit to offer still,” he said.

“I’ll be really trying hard over the next two years to repay that faith.

“I’m really, really happy and really excited to be staying at Melbourne.”

Spencer has missed the past five matches with his ankle injury, after playing the first five matches and summed up his 2014 as a “two-side story”.

“I had a positive start to the season and played some early games and then it was pretty frustrating and disappointing in the last four or five weeks,” he said.

“I’ve started running now, so hopefully I can get it right and finish off the season well.”

Although injuries have interrupted his career – he is sidelined at the moment with an ankle injury – Spencer played the opening five matches this year and showed great courage to carry the load with his injury.

But he played down his effort to carry the load when fellow ruckmen Mark Jamar and Max Gawn were returning from their respective injuries.

“Looking back now, it probably would’ve been good to have that one to two weeks off, but at the same time, I really wanted to keep my spot. I was a little naïve and thought I could handle it and I did better than I actually thought,” he said.

“It wasn’t too hard, although I couldn’t train, but getting up for games weren’t an issue – it was just the day to day stuff during the week I really couldn’t do.

“I really wanted to keep going, but I couldn’t quite keep the performances going in the end and manage it week to week that well. So in the end, it was the right decision to have a couple of weeks off, so I could get it right and be back this year.”

Spencer said he was another four to five weeks away from returning.

“Depending on the fitness base, I’ll start running next week and then hopefully have two weeks of training, but it’s out of my hands and we’ll wait and see what Dave Misson says.”

With fellow ruckman Mark Jamar in the latter stage of this career, despite playing some fine football this year, Spencer said he still had plenty of challenges in his career to lock down a position in the 22.

“I’ll be 25 at the end of this year … but whenever Russian (Jamar) does [retire], it’s still not going to be easy, because Gawny, who I think will be a really good player, who still be here,” he said.

“It’s not like it’s going to be a given for me, so I’m going to have to work hard when I’m back playing again and then into next pre-season.”