Defender Clint Bizzell says he still has no idea if he will be selected in the opening round of the season proper.

But if he continues to perform like he did against Richmond in the NAB Challenge match at MC Labour Park on Saturday, Bizzell is a near-certainty to force his way into the best 22, after a frustrating run with injury in 2006.

"I've still got to earn my spot," Bizzell told melbournefc.com.au, after collecting 21 disposals and six marks. “I've got to make sure I'm actually playing good footy and take that spot on, as part of our backline.

"We tried a few rotations today and that's how the game's starting to go. Hopefully I can fit in the back cog and we can gel together as a backline to be as potent as we can in defensive and attacking work.

"If I can keep myself as fit as I can and as fresh as I can, then I'll give myself the best opportunity to fit into that back six."

Bizzell's ability to set up play and rebound from the defensive 50 was again evident against the Tigers. He set up a goal after several bounces in a long solo run out of the backline.

"Sometimes it's just the small things that can give you confidence. Something like that where you take two, three and then four bounces and then handpass off, it leads to a goal and you know you've been pretty influential in that play."

"It's a great feeling and everyone runs back with a bit of a smile and a goal accomplished."

Bizzell is relishing being back on the paddock after missing the first two-thirds of 2006. Initially he was understood to be sidelined with a calf problem, before it was discovered he had a fractured leg, sustained in the pre-season.

Although he returned via the VFL in the latter part of the season, it was too late to force his way back into a red and blue guernsey.

"I think if [the leg] was diagnosed early, I still would've missed a good deal of football," Bizzell said. “If I'd missed six weeks, I would've lost a lot of fitness, but then I’d have been able to regain that through Sandringham and then come back and play."

"But it was a long-term injury. I've had a couple throughout my time and it's very hard. Even when you miss a week of training, you still feel a little bit out of it, so to miss an extended period is hard to come back from.

"It was frustrating in parts, but I couldn't do much about it, so I just tried to make the best use of myself I could at the footy club. I tried not to show it was getting to me, because you can have such an influence with the group, being one of the older guys.

"I got back and played for Sandringham in a premiership, which was a good time for me personally. I would have loved to have got back into the senior side of course, but my fitness wasn't there."

"Playing in a Sandringham premiership will hopefully hold me in good stead for this year," he said.