JAMES Harmes says Melbourne’s ability to respond to challenges has been the most impressive part of the pre-season.

Melbourne trailed St Kilda by 10 points late in the first quarter of Sunday’s game but after taking the lead in the second term, withstood multiple challenges from the Saints to record a 24-point win.

“[Simon Goodwin] just said to us that we’ve been challenged every game and we’ve been able to step it up when we get challenged, so that’s a really positive thing to take out of our footy at the moment,” Harmes told Dee TV.

“So hopefully we can just take that into round one – we’ll have a [couple of] weeks [to] freshen up before round one, but let’s just try and carry that form in.”

Melbourne won all three of its pre-season games, against Port Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda, in an ideal preparation for round one.

Harmes said it was important to finish the pre-season on a high to help take momentum into the home and away season.

“Getting that confidence for round one and everyone just knowing their roles and playing their roles is what we’ve been talking about all pre-season,” he said.

“So I think we went out there today and we did that.”

Harmes collected 16 possessions (eight contested) and had four inside 50s and two rebound 50s against the Saints.

Heading into his first season on the senior list, the former rookie said his primary aim was to lock down a spot in Melbourne’s best 22 off the back of a strong pre-season.

“Hopefully [I’m] in the best 22 but I’m probably just on the fringe so I’ll try and have a couple of good weeks at training and really push for round one,” he said.

“Especially after this pre-season, I feel a lot stronger and fitter and [with] every game I build a bit of confidence.

“So hopefully I can just cement a spot and go from there.”

Having made his mark up forward late in the 2015 season and in the first two games of pre-season, Harmes played predominantly on the wing against the Saints and said he enjoyed the experience.

“I played a bit more wing today so hopefully that could be a new position for me,” he said.

“I’ve been mainly forward this pre-season but today I pushed onto the wing and I thought I had a pretty positive game.”

“So hopefully I can keep that up and try and lock down a spot there.”