HAVING missed three months of the pre-season with a foot injury Melbourne co-captain Jack Trengove says he is on his way back to full fitness.

Speaking at a media conference at AAMI Park on Wednesday morning, Trengove knows the best place to gain his fitness is out in games.

“No matter how much running you do in the pre-season it’s really hard to replicate that match fitness,” he said.

“The best time to test that (fitness) is actually getting out there and doing it on game day – that’s what I’ve done the last couple of weeks so hopefully I just keep improving from there.”

Having just played the two full senior games this year, as well as one for VFL affiliate Casey, Trengove was hopeful that with improved fitness would come improved performances.

“It was my third game back on the weekend from a foot injury that kept me out for three months and you don’t want to miss any part of pre-season,” Trengove said.

“Unfortunately that happened for me, but I’m starting to find my feet and get into that real peak fitness level that I’ve been aiming to get to for the past couple of weeks – so hopefully that will show in my performance in the coming weeks.”

As well as improved personal performances, Trengove was confident the leadership across the Melbourne team would improve during difficult times.

“We’re seeing the times we’re under at the moment as a great challenge to move forward and improve some qualities from a leadership point of view – we see it as a great challenge going forward,” he said.

“In challenging times that’s when leaders really come to the fore.

“Grimesy (Jack Grimes), myself and the rest of the leadership group see this time as a great challenge to really progress as leaders and really enhance our qualities. We feel as though it’s going to hold us in great stead in the future.”

Looking forward to this Sunday’s game at the MCG against GWS, Trengove said the team gained a great deal of confidence after its first half against the Eagles last week.

“That first half of footy was some of the most enjoyable footy that I’ve played in years … and that’s what we’ve been seeing throughout training and the pre-season,” he said.

“[We’ll] take a lot of confidence from that first half and especially against a great team in the West Coast Eagles.”