MELBOURNE national recruiting manager Barry Prendergast says the imminent debut of Liam Jurrah is a tick for all who have helped make his journey from Central Australia to the AFL a reality.

Prendergast, who is about to see his fourth player make his AFL debut from just his first drafting period last year, along with Jamie Bennell, Neville Jetta and Jack Watts, was humble when asked if Jurrah's elevation from Casey Scorpions was another tick for him.

"It's a tick in the sense that you've got another drafted player playing senior AFL footy. I'd like the ticks to be bigger when they play 50 AFL games and 100 AFL games – that's what it's all about," Prendergast told melbournefc.com.au.

"We've got an exciting young group of players, who are keen to play AFL footy and be exposed, but there is a big difference between being exposed and playing 100 AFL games and being an influential player.

"So the story with Liam Jurrah is his background and where he's come from, so from that sense, we can tick off the challenge as a footy club and that's a tick for us that we got him to this point. But roll Friday night, we're hoping for bigger ticks."

Prendergast said Jurrah, who has "earned his stripes" after booting 11 goals in the past three matches for Casey, was an outstanding story – not just at Melbourne, but for the game. 

"We're pretty excited as a footy club … it's a great footy story in a general sense, but it's great for our footy club to get Liam up to be able to play," he said.

"Hopefully, he performs, but there are a lot of people at our organisation who have helped him along the way. There are a lot of people involved who helped identify him in the first place – the Industrial Magpies and the support we've had from those guys off the field and our coaching staff has been terrific with him.

"Ian Flack, our welfare guy has been terrific with him. Aaron Davey and Matthew Whelan, our indigenous leaders of our footy club, have really helped Liam along the way.

"It was one of the factors that helped us as well, because we had that support as well. So it's a great story for our club and hopefully he acquits himself well on Friday night."