FOLLOWING a fantastic win over the reigning premiers, the Western Bulldogs, Dom Tyson says that he hopes the return of Max Gawn to the side will not force Cameron Pedersen out of the team.

Tyson, who amassed 21 possessions and kicked a goal on Sunday, said Pedersen has been a valuable contributor since coming into the side in round six.

“He can fill a few positions and he’s doing a lot of team things as well; he’s marking the ball, giving it off, setting up goals, crashing packs” he told the SEN Breakfast team.

“I hope he stays in, and it probably allows Max to have a bit of a chop out too.”

Tyson said Jesse was still a few weeks from playing again.

“He’s progressing well,” he said.

“He’s running around and doing some weights now, it’s just the fact that he’s had a relatively interrupted year so far.

“[The coaching staff] are probably a bit nervous about rushing him back because he won’t have the miles in his legs and the soft tissues’ become relevant, so he might be two or three weeks away.”

Reflecting on the win over the Bulldogs, Tyson identified that there was a focus on outnumbering the opposition around the contests, and that Melbourne took a lot out of watching the Sydney game the week before.

“We watched a bit of the Sydney game and how they went about beating the Bulldogs,” he said.

“I think every time the Bulldogs got the ball they had someone in their face, pressuring them and coming forward, not allowing them clear disposal to flick it on the outside to get some run going.

“We did have a focus on being manic in that pressure, whether you can sustain that for four quarters or you can just start off with that high pressure factor, it allows you to get a bit of the lead.”

Tyson said that Nathan Jones and Jack Watts, who both went down with injuries early in the last quarter, were no certainties to play next week.

“Nath has a very good ability to heal. He hasn’t missed much footy since his debut so he’ll be in at the physios trying to get himself right to play, but I think jack might be in a little more trouble than Nath.” he said.

“He went in with a bit of a sore back and may have just hurt his hamstring. We’re travelling to Perth as well so that probably won’t help either of their cases, but we’ve got 3 or 4 guys in the VFL at the moment that are playing very good footy so whether they need to miss a week or see how it goes- I’m not too sure at the moment.”