IT SEEMS remarkable that as many as four changes could be made for Melbourne’s round 10 side on the back of its 63-point win over the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on Sunday.

But it’s the right call, given where Melbourne is at in its journey.

Stability is unquestionably a trait of successful teams – and most other things in life for that matter – but the fact that Melbourne is a young team and is heading to the warmer conditions at the picturesque TIO Traeger Park Oval this Saturday means that changes are the right move for the side, as coach Paul Roos explained.

“Our trip to Alice [Springs] – we’re on a six-day break, so as coaching group, we’d be confident that we can maybe put three or four players in and leave three or four out,” he said.

“I think that’s an indication of [our depth] and I think we’re going to have to do that.

“We’ve seen already when we’re tired that we don’t play that well, so there is no doubt I think we’ve got a list that we can rotate around a bit more.”

It’s a fascinating situation and somewhat unchartered territory for the club in recent years.

At the moment, the list is relatively healthy, even though, for various reasons, Angus Brayshaw, Neville Jetta, Matt Jones, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Mitch King, Heritier Lumumba, Jake Melksham, Cameron Pedersen and Dom Tyson did not play on the weekend.

Melbourne is still youthful in games and age, so it remains mindful of the way it is manages its developing players. This is where the management of its list has been a massive tick under Roos, his coaches and medical team.

But as Roos pointed out, a handful of players are also returning from injury via the VFL or starring for Casey and are knocking on the door more vigourously each week, meaning selection adds another dimension.

“Vanders (Aaron vandenBerg) came back [from injury and played for Casey on Saturday night] and Dawesy (Chris Dawes) played his third game [back from injury in the VFL],” he said.

“Grimesy (Jack Grimes) has been consistent but hasn’t been able to crack back in and [Jack] Trengove is starting to play some really good footy for seven weeks. Jack put his hand up during the week, which was great. I had a really good chat to him about what we want to see from him. He’s not that far away and he played another really good game last night (Saturday), which was terrific.

“We saw [Alex] Neal-Bullen and [Ben] Newton come in [against the Lions] for both their first games of the year, so there is no doubt [that we now have some depth]. That’s on the back of youth … so I like the look of our talent and our recruiting has been really good.”

Even within the Melbourne 22, the ability to rotate players throughout positions has now become part of the mix.

This was evidenced by the likes of Jack Watts playing as the back-up ruckman and Tom Bugg spending more time through the midfield against the Lions.

“Buggy’s start to the game was exceptional. We just shared the load and guys just bobbed up times – Jack Viney was a bit quieter, but he just keeps cracking in and cracking in,” Roos said.

“[Christian] Petracca went in [the midfield] a little bit, and Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince played a little bit more half-back.

“The ability to put guys through there takes pressure off our senior players, and makes us a bit harder to play against.”

Melbourne’s trip to Central Australia looms as a fascinating – and exciting clash – for the club.

It has lost both matches against Port Adelaide in Alice Springs – its 2014 contest was a fine effort, but last year was a disappointing result.

This time, Melbourne will be desperate to make amends – and it will come with a slightly different looking team to the one that notched up its fifth win of the season last round, as Roos promised.

“Nev [Jetta] will definitely come back [from suspension], so you’ve got to crystal ball [at the rest of the team] a little bit,” he said.  

“We’ll leave some players out – no doubt – going to Alice. There is no doubt about that, but what those players will be, we’ll play that out during the week.

“But we’ll make some changes going up there for sure.”

And it will be intriguing to see how it all unfolds – right from selection on Thursday night.