A MIDFIELD match-up featuring Melbourne’s young guns and Geelong’s superstars’ looms as a tantalising sub-plot to round one.

But just how much Christian Petracca will feature in the engine room, given the outstanding youngster also looms as a forward prospect in 2018, remains another twist in the notion.

And it’s something not lost on the recently-turned 22-year-old.

“They say [I’ll play] midfield, but I reckon I’ll be playing three minutes in there, but then I’ll be pushing forward again – they probably don’t trust me yet,” he said with a laugh.

“I see myself as a midfielder who will push down forward a little bit, as we’ve got a lot of versatility in the group.

“’Clarry’ (Clayton Oliver) can play down forward as well and [Christian] Salem can play half-back, and ‘Gussy’ (Angus Brayshaw) can play forward as well, so that’s the beauty of our group – we’re so young and raw and I think we’re just really keen for games to start going.”

Petracca said it was a great opportunity for Melbourne to test itself against three greats of the modern era.

“It’s very exciting. They’ve got [Patrick] Dangerfield, [Joel] Selwood and now [Gary] Ablett, and we’re a pretty young group,” he said.

“They’ve had great careers and we probably idolise ourselves on those three guys – I know I idolise myself on Dangerfield and the way he plays.

“But at the moment, we can’t really worry about that – we’ve still got another six or seven weeks of pre-season … and we’ve got the Maroochydore camp next week.”