JAKE Melksham says he’s starting to feel more settled in the team, after holding his place in the side since round 10.

Melksham, who has played 12 matches this season, was omitted from rounds seven to nine, but after returning for Melbourne’s win against the Gold Coast Suns at TIO Traeger Park on May 27, where he collected 32 disposals, the utility has kicked a goal in every game since round 12.

In his first full season at the club, Melksham has played some important roles in recent weeks and produced some key moments – as shown by his outstanding goal on the run in the dying stages of last Sunday’s win over Carlton at the MCG.

“I was pretty excited, as you probably saw by my celebration,” he told melbournefc.com.au with a laugh about his goal at the 22-minute mark of the final term, which put Melbourne in front. 

“It was a really good pressure play; I think we worked it all the way up from the backline. I was there at the right time. It was a great contest by Jesse [Hogan] – he was able to feed it out and put us in a position to score.”

“Since I came back into the team I’ve felt a bit more settled. It’s been really good; we’ve been winning and playing our brand of football. I’ve had some run-with roles – [Bryce] Gibbs on the weekend and recently [Collingwood captain Scott] Pendlebury in the midfield. So, it’s been good that the coaches have put me into that role and given me that responsibility.”

Melksham said Melbourne’s ninth win of the season was a hard-fought win, particularly with a dozen listed players on the sidelines.

“It was a tight win, and we knew that Carlton were going to come after us after a pretty hostile round two, so we tried to wear as much of the heat as we could and come back with a bit of it ourselves,” he said.

“It came right down to the end, which we thought could happen, and we were just happy to walk away with the win. It was pretty tense – it’s always exciting though, especially when you’re playing at the MCG.

“We’ve played some big clubs like Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond at the MCG this year and all of those games have been huge. It’s an exciting time – there has been a lot of noise coming from supporters, which was really exciting. And when we prevail, I’m sure that the supporters really enjoy it as much as we do.”

Looking ahead to Saturday night’s clash against the Adelaide Crows at TIO Stadium, Melksham said it was another test for the club.

“Over the next few weeks we come up against some quality sides, like Adelaide in Darwin,” he said.

“We’ll sit down and look back on round eight, and what we did in that game to slow them and we’ll try and implement that again.

“I think it will be an exciting game. I’ve personally never been to Darwin before, so it’s meant to be pretty hot, so acclimatising will be important, but we’re excited for this week’s challenge.”