COACH Simon Goodwin says Melbourne’s forward line set-up and its overall best 22 is getting closer to being locked in.

Goodwin said the first part of the season had partly been about finding the best mix of players to take the team ahead for the rest of the year.

“We’re getting closer [with our best forward set-up],” he said.

“I think the first six or seven weeks, you test and learn, and you understand your team.  

“You find the strengths of things that work for you – and we think we’re getting close to that.

“Getting Tom McDonald back and Jack [Viney] in another week – we’re starting to get a full complement of players available to play.

“We feel like we’re learning a lot about our playing group.”

Goodwin said having Angus Brayshaw in the midfield had strengthened that area.

“He’s been a huge bonus for us in the past few weeks,” he said.

“We feel like it’s getting closer, but we’ve still got some work to do.”