CHRIS Dawes has been itching to make his debut for Melbourne for several weeks now, nagging at coach Mark Neeld and the Melbourne medical staff to let him play.

At a Thursday morning media conference, Dawes said he had been eager to play against the Brisbane Lions in round five, but trusted the judgment of Neeld and others.

“Two or three weeks ago, when I was about to play my first stint in the VFL, that week I was telling him (Neeld) to put me on a plane to Brisbane,” he said.

“Then the following week, I was giving him and the medical staff hell telling them I wanted to play.

“I think they’ve managed me well because now I know I’m ready to go at the AFL.”

Dawes said he was keen to make an impact on his return to AFL and was not looking to make up the numbers.

“I won’t just be planning on getting through – I’ll be bringing a lot of effort and leadership to that forward line,” he said.

“I’ll tie up one of their big-bodied defenders and hopefully have a bit of a physical presence myself.”

Coach Mark Neeld said he wasn’t expecting Dawes to kick a bag first up.

“He’ll certainly have an impact in terms of being down there,” he said.

“Gold Coast are going to have to play a big-bodied defender on him, so that is going to help out some of the other forwards.

“Expectations in terms of hitting the scoreboard and those things won’t exist straight away.”

When asked if he had made the right decision to come to the Dees, Dawes was adamant he had. He said he was looking forward to working with the young Melbourne team and helping it progress.

“I look at the turn around in effort consistently across the board,” he said.

“In the last three or four weeks of footy, it reaffirms my confidence that I have made the right decision coming to a team that is improving and wants to improve. 

“I think you’re going to see constant improvement, even if there is the odd hiccup along the way.”