AARON vandenBerg says that he feels “confident and excited” for the 2016 season after a break-out year.

vandenBerg, who was drafted to Melbourne as a rookie last year, played 14 games in his first season, debuting in round one against the Gold Coast Suns.

Despite a brief pre-season due to shoulder surgery and a run of injuries which saw him miss eight games, vandenBerg said that he is overall pleased with how his year played out.

“This time last year I had probably just finished up footy [with NEAFL side Ainslie] and I was still working nine to five [at the Royal Australian Mint],” he told melbournefc.com.au.  

“Fortunately after a couple of nervous sleeps and a couple of phone calls to the footy club, I eventually got drafted which was amazing.

“Then to come in and have such a limited pre-season with where I was at [after shoulder surgery], I was extremely happy to have played round one and get 14 game under my belt.”

Arriving at Melbourne as a mature-aged rookie, vandenBerg said he had found the transition from state league football to AFL relatively smooth.

“At the end of January when I got into the main training group and started doing a little bit of training, I wasn’t too scared of the situation; I didn’t see why I couldn’t play a few games [in AFL] and why I couldn’t have an impact during the year,” he said.

“I think possibly the way I tend to play my football, the more contested tackling pressure type of game, certainly suits the way that Roosy likes to play as well.

“That has [probably] left me in pretty good stead coming into the season as well.”

After two injury-free seasons at Ainslie in 2013-14 where he didn’t miss a game, vandenBerg said it was frustrating to miss such a large part of his first AFL season to injury.

“The previous two seasons to this one [with Ainslie], I hadn’t missed a game at all and then to come in and miss eight games to injury after not missing any in 2013 and 2014, was a little bit different,” he said.

“I think that was probably due to a limited pre-season and coming into a game that is so intense as opposed to what I was used to so it probably took its toll in the end.

“After the first injury (a hamstring strain), I thought my body was back in good condition and then unfortunately the second one (an ankle injury) was just a little bit of a freak injury. It wasn’t any overuse or over-wear; it was just an unlucky situation that I caught myself in at training.”

After being elevated on to the senior list, vandenBerg said he is looking forward to consolidating what he has learned from his first AFL season and putting it into practice next year.

“I’ve got good development coaches around me and they’ve identified the areas I need to improve. I can [also] have a full pre-season from day one, rather than coming in with a shoulder reconstruction and having to work my way back into running again, is going to help me a lot,” he said.

“Then come round one, hopefully I can start playing some really good footy and string some games together.”