FEW players have been on the cusp of AFL selection like Jake Spencer has this year.
The ruckman has been an emergency for Melbourne on all but four occasions this year, having now played three matches for the season against Carlton and Gold Coast Suns in rounds six and seven respectively, and against St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday. (For the record, he was not named in the 25 against Collingwood on Queen’s Birthday).
But the big man played arguably his best match for the Demons upon his return against the Saints, collecting an equal career-high 15 disposals and winning 27 hit outs – one shy of his best, which was against St Kilda in round 20 last year and Gold Coast this year.
Not surprisingly, Spencer’s effort against the Saints coincided with him having the most belief he’d felt entering an AFL match.
“This was the most confident I’ve been coming into a game,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“I was saying to Greavesy (midfield development coach Aaron Greaves) during the week that this was probably the first real time coming into the side where I genuinely feel I deserve a go.
“Usually I’ve come in because ‘Russian’ (Mark Jamar) has gone down [with injury] and that was the case this week, but I really felt like I was putting my hand up the last four weeks. I was coming into the game confident … I was just fortunate that I got on the end of a few.”
The Queenslander added that he had built up some strong form for Casey in the VFL, which gave him the confidence to bring it into the AFL.
“The last couple of weeks, I’ve really been trying to get my forward game up and going, and I played pretty much all of the game in the ruck,” Spencer said.
“This is my sixth year now, and this is probably the strongest I’ve been and the fittest and it’s now or never for me.
“I’ve got to start showing those signs of improvement, especially with Gawny (Max Gawn) up and going – the competition is tough.”
Spencer’s only blemish was a report for making head high contact on St Kilda ruckman Ben McEvoy.
“I’m just waiting now for the tribunal, because I think I’ve got a bit of a nervous wait now,” he said.
“That’s the only thing that I’m really thinking about at the moment.
Given he made his debut back in 2009 and was drafted in the NAB AFL Rookie Draft back in December 2007, Spencer knows that his second half of the season is critical, but he is relishing the chance to progress.
“It’s a good thing. You need that competition and for me personally with Mark Jamar, an All-Australian ruckman, I know I’ve got to play well every week, because I know I’m not going to get a game,” he said.
“It really drives all three of us to get better and I reckon this year having all three of us fit and healthy – it’s helped us all get better.
“It’s only a positive for the club, but it’s a positive for me, because I’m trying to get better and I’ve got to play well every week.”
Looking back on the week, Spencer said it had been a difficult period for the club with the departure of Mark Neeld.
“It’s never a nice feeling and personally, you feel very guilty,” he said.
“We’ve lost two coaches now that we feel a little bit responsible for. It’s always a bit disappointing, but you can’t dwell on it for too long, because you’re just going to go nowhere.
“The football industry these days, you’ve just got to move on quickly and Neeldy’s even said that as well, so I thought the boys did really well to keep the spirits up and move on reasonably quickly.”
Spencer said new coach Neil Craig added his own flavour in the lead up to the St Kilda clash.
“It was a bit different to Mark Neeld, but he just really worked on getting the boys up for this week,” he said.
“We weren’t good enough, but there were a few improvements, so that’s all you can ask for.
“We’re working for everything we get, but we just let too many easy goals [through] and too many contests where they were too easy. We really want to be a hard team to play against, so that’s what we’re working for in the next 10 weeks.”
