AFTER a torturous two-year comeback from injury, Jack Trengove admits it felt good to dish out some discomfort for a change.

Trengove, one of Melbourne's most popular players, made a successful return to AFL football in Saturday's 18-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG.

It was his first senior match since round two, 2014.

In that time, he has suffered a dreaded navicular bone fracture in his foot - an injury that has ended more than one AFL career and certainly put his in jeopardy.

Trengove looked more at home as Saturday's pulsating game progressed.

Late in the third quarter, Hawks ruckman Ben McEvoy came off second best when he clashed with Trengove in a marking contest.

"It did feel pretty good and I went straight up to Gawny (Max Gawn) and said 'I reckon I got him a good one'," Trengove said.

"But I don't know, the ball was there and you have a crack - you don't go out trying to hurt anyone.

"It was a really good time of the game - we'd worked our way back into it."

The narrow loss meant Trengove had mixed feelings post-match.

"It's disappointing, I guess, because we didn't quite get there," he said.

"We put up such a great fight for three quarters and we couldn't quite finish off.

"But Hawthorn are a proven, great side and they've been doing it for a lot of years now.

"It's a bit of a measuring stick for us to see where we need to get to."

Trengove admitted to nerves, pre-match, but had a solid game with 19 possessions and coach Paul Roos was impressed.

"To not look out of place is what you're looking for ... that's the thing that strikes me," Roos said.

"He did some good things - he looked comfortable.

"There wasn't a time in the box where we were screaming out his name in a negative sense, which is always a good indicator that someone is playing a good team role."