FORMER co-captain Jack Trengove is adamant the club “is definitely on the rise” after being with Melbourne since he was the second player selected in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft.

Trengove, who holds the record for the youngest full-time captain in VFL/AFL history, said he had seen plenty in his time at Melbourne, but was now convinced it was on the right track.

“This is my seventh season at the club. There’s not many of us left back from that age, which is a good thing because it’s all in the past and none of the new boys knew what we went through, but I couldn’t be more positive [about the club now],” he told Melbourne TV.

“I feel like it’s a new career for me and a new time at the Melbourne Football Club and I’m seeing things now every day at the club that I’ve never seen before and that’s really encouraging.

“[Melbourne’s depth of young talent is] one of the most exciting things about getting back into it. Going into this season, I don’t think I’d played with about 25 people on our list because of the turnover and a lot of young guys coming through so any opportunity to play with Billy Stretch, Alex Neal-Bullen, Liam Hulett, Sam Weideman, Mitch White, Max King – all of these younger guys has been really exciting for me.

“It’s given me an understanding and a privilege of being able to help them in their early career as well. That’s one of the big things that I’ve been enjoying about playing at Casey. It’s certainly been exciting to see them progressing and developing and you catch a glimpse into the future of those guys being massive names at the Melbourne Football Club.”

Trengove said he had been particularly impressed with key forward Sam Weideman.

“I reckon he’s going to be a fantastic player for us going forward. He’s already got the body and he just needs to fill out a bit,” he said.

“In comparison to a new draftee 10 years ago, where it was really about earning your stripes, now a lot of the guys are coming out of the under 18s system with a lot more confidence from the start.

“Weids just listens to everything you say and tries to do it to the best of his ability. He’s a great student of the game and I reckon in the next couple of years, he’s going to excite the supporters.”

Trengove said having Christian Petracca with him in rehab last year made was beneficial for both.

“[I was] working closely with him and trying to impart some knowledge towards him to make the whole lengthy process of rehab a lot easier,” he said.

“He also helped me out so much and I’ve got to give him credit for me getting [back] to this point in my journey, because he is a young and exciting guy who was certainly flat at different stages.

“But we helped each other along the way and made some of those Wattbike sessions a lot easier.”

Looking back on his journey at Melbourne, Trengove didn’t lay blame on anyone for the club’s tough few years of recent times, but he was certain the club was now right on track.    

“You only know what you know. Back then [under the old administration], I thought it was great because that’s all I knew. But certainly from where we are now, I couldn’t be more confident in the direction we’re going in as a club,” he said.

“The way that Roosy (Paul Roos), Goody (Simon Goodwin) and Macca (Brendan McCartney) in particular have set up the whole footy department … we couldn’t be doing more and it couldn’t be greater from the players’ point-of-view.

“It’s just a really positive place to be around; you literally walk into the club everyday excited to train, improve and develop. A lot of it is on the back of the way that it has all been set-up.”

Trengove, who has now played a VFL intra-club match, a Casey practice match and four games for the Scorpions since returning from almost two years on the sidelines with a foot injury, said he sees his versatility as his main attribute for returning to the side.

“I think there’s still an element of that, to be a bit of a utility. The rotations cap couldn’t suit me more; I’m more of an endurance athlete, I don’t have a lot of fast-twitch fibres in the body,” he said.

“The ability to run all day, when other guys are getting tired and you keep running at that same pace, that’s probably my strength. So anywhere from an inside-mid, which I’ve been playing a lot in the VFL to being able to run up and down the wing all day and then have stints at half-back and half-forward.

“I think a lot of it in the AFL team at the moment would be between inside-mid and wing, there’s probably between eight to 10 blokes in the team at the moment, who go through those positions, so it’s just about being able to slot in there.”

Although he has played just two matches under coach Paul Roos, Trengove couldn’t speak highly enough of his support, during his time on the sidelines.

“[Roos] has been fantastic. The last two years I haven’t had a lot of direct dealings with him because a lot of his concerns [are on] on the week-to-week matches. I haven’t been involved in team selection or even training to that matter, but he’s been a great support throughout my whole two years of rehab,” he said.

“He’s a great mentor for a lot of players at the club and as he said, he hasn’t spoken to me a lot of late – he’s just let me go out and get back to enjoying footy and getting the kilometres in the legs, which has been good because it’s made me focus a lot easier and just on pure enjoyment as opposed to worrying about certain things.

“Now I have managed to get games under my belt, we can get a bit more specific, so I’ve caught up with him the last couple of weeks, talking about transferring behaviors and habits from the VFL into AFL. It’s easier to go into VFL footy and play to that standard as opposed to trying to bring the AFL standard.”

Trengove said he was fully aware that the step up to the AFL was now at another level.

“The step-up is even more now – not that I’ve made that step-up yet – but just from watching the game, it’s a lot more demanding on the body from a running point-of-view,” he said.

“You have to make a lot quicker decisions. I [don’t] want to come in and play AFL underdone because you want to set yourself up for success. I want to make sure that if I do get the opportunity to play at AFL level again, that I’m in for good and not just one of those guys that’s in for one week and out the next.

“I reckon [I need] a couple more games [at VFL] and if I’m in good form and the GPS results are looking pretty good in my favour, then I’d definitely be willing to put my hand up. Don’t get me wrong, I want to play this week but at the same time, you’ve got to be smart.”