BEN Newton says he has one clear goal for 2015: to play as many matches as possible for Melbourne.

“I want to play every game,” he told melbournefc.com.au. 

The former Power midfielder played four matches in his four seasons at the club (all in 2014), which was interrupted by injuries early in his career.

But on the back of Port Adelaide’s outstanding season, which ended with a heartbreaking three-point loss to Hawthorn in the preliminary final, Newton was unable to gain a regular game, given the Power’s strong midfield.

Although Port Adelaide list manager Jason Cripps told afl.com.au in October that Newton was a required player for 2015, the Power also understood why he wanted to pursue other opportunities, which ultimately led him to Melbourne.

“Due to the strength of our midfield, 'Newts' played only four games this year and he has decided to see if there are better opportunities at another club so he will enter the draft,” Cripps said.  

“We understand and respect his decision.”   

Now having been at Melbourne for the past two months, Newton said he had relished the opportunity to be part of a new midfield brigade.

“They’re a pretty young group and there have been a few draftees and people coming in like myself over the past few years,” he said.

“It’s quite a young and exciting group. At the moment, I’m just enjoying training and focusing on being competitive. I think we’ll have a pretty exciting group coming up in the next couple of years.

“It’s been pretty positive so far. It’s just the start and we’ve still got a long way to go, so we’ll just keep on improving and progressing, but so far they’ve (the coaches) been pretty happy.”

Newton said the training standards at Melbourne had been strong in the pre-season and he compared them favourably to Port Adelaide.

“They’ve been really good. Coming from Port Adelaide, I see a lot of similarities to where Port Adelaide was and where Melbourne is now,” he said.

“There is good intent from everyone and positive energy, so it’s really good.

“Training standards have been really good, so I’m looking forward to it (the season).”