THE prospect of lining up along side new teammate Chris Dawes has Mitch Clark excited.

The pair is yet to train together, as they have had restricted pre-seasons, but this hasn’t dampened Clark’s enthusiasm.

“We haven’t even actually trained together, we were just joking about it before, so we’ve got two sessions to get it right,” Clark joked.

“I’ve become quite close to Dawesy over this pre-season so I’m looking forward to playing along side of him.”

Clark isn’t expecting things to click immediately but is confident he and Dawes will combine well.

“These things do take time, I haven’t even trained with Dawesy yet, so from watching him I’m still trying to learn how he plays and where he moves and where he likes the footy, as all the other boys are,” he said.

“It’ll take a little bit of time, but should be enjoyable once we get up and going.”

Clark said the rest of the playing group has the same respect for Dawes.

“Dawesy is a very hard worker, he’s very professional.” Clark said.

“He’s come in and been able to get into our leadership group after a few months with his teammates, so that shows value in him.”

Clark also said the presence of Dawes and other big bodies such as Cameron Pedersen and James Sellar would really help Melbourne’s attack.

“We’ve got (Dawes) up forward now as well, so that’ll help me out a fair bit, and Cam Pedersen and James Sellar can play down there as well,” Clark said.

“I imagine I’ll be close to goal and maybe [spend] a bit of time in the ruck when needed.

“Sellar or Pedersen will probably be that third tall who can swing into the ruck.”

Clark singled out Jeremy Howe as one of the players likely to excel with the new forward structure.

“Guys like Jeremy Howe will benefit massively from having a couple more big bodies up forward,” he said.

New Demons David Rodan and Shannon Byrnes have also impressed Clark.

“He (Rodan) has definitely improved his game, and he’s still got a lot more improvement,” he said.

“He’s the fittest he’s ever been, he’s so strong in the gym and he’s just such a great guy to have around a footy club teaching the young guys.

“Shannon Byrnes is the same, just the experience that he’s brought in from Geelong, his old side, and just being able to pick those guys’ brains is really good for (us).”