PRE-SEASON practice matches are the perfect opportunity for teams to put to test all that they’ve worked on in the past few months, from game plan to match fitness.

On Sunday, Melbourne got its first chance to trial its own work, learning about key areas of improvement off the back of its initial hit-out against Richmond.

The Dees kicked off their pre-season schedule with a seven-term game (the final three periods of play largely involving VFL players) against the Tigers on their home training soil of Casey Fields.

Following a fast start from Melbourne, thanks to the explosive efforts of Christian Petracca, Richmond finished the four terms in front at 18.9 (117) to 14.10 (94).

Troy Chaplin, the Demons’ backline coach, joined media following the extended game and despite being asked about the team’s forward mix, a popular topic of conversation in recent years, it was their defensive efforts that had his attention.

“We got to see some guys up [in the forward line] that haven’t played much footy together,” Chaplin said.

“Jack Billings played through there, Josh Schache as well, we saw Kynan Brown play a little bit through there too.

“So, there’s going to be some guys in and out and we’re trying find that right [forward line] mix.

“When Richmond had the ball, I thought defensively we were a little bit off today, which we’ve been really strong in these last few years.

“So, that’s one thing we’ll review and look at how we can continue to get better and get back to what our strength is.”

Billings, who made his unofficial debut in his new colours (having come across from St Kilda at the end of 2023) echoed this sentiment post-match, highlighting the side’s defence as a key area of focus.

“We’ll go away and take the learnings out of it and review it,” Billings said.

“We’ll prioritise on our defence, that’s probably the one thing we need to get up and going, so got a lot to work on.

“We’ll take the learnings from it, but it was enjoyable to have the hit-out."