MATT Jones says he has focused heavily on improving his skills over the pre-season as he looks to take his game to another level in 2015.
Jones, who has played 42 of a possible 44 matches for Melbourne since he was selected at No.52 in the 2012 NAB AFL Draft, said he had also concentrated on his strength work over the summer.
“For me, my strength work in the gym was a focus, as well as my skills,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“I felt like last year some of my skill errors cost me a lot, so I’ve been really concentrating on my skills.
“Hopefully next year, I can pick up my skills to the standard.”
The midfielder said he had already seen improvements in his training so far this pre-season.
“I’m pretty happy with the way I’m going so far,” he said.
“I came back in pretty good nick and I’ve been able to do all of the sessions.
“I got my personal best on the three-km time-trial, so that was good.”
Jones said he felt a lot more confident entering 2015.
“I felt like last season I wasn’t overly happy with my second half of 2014, but so far I’ve started pre-season well and hopefully I can keep on carrying that into the season.”
“Whether or not my expectations got higher in my second year, I’m not really sure.”
“I felt like I started well last year, but towards the end of the year my form dropped off a bit, as did the team’s form. Hopefully I can have a really solid year over the whole season in 2015.”
The 27-year-old said he was looking forward to a break on the Mornington Peninsula over the Christmas/New Year period, but was adamant that he would still be working “pretty hard” over the break.
“We’ve got a program that’s pretty strict, so we’ll have to stick to that,” he said.
“With all the other guys coming in now, you can’t afford to fall back, because there are other guys in there now that can take your spot.”