OUTSTANDING young key forward Jesse Hogan is likely to play each match of the NAB Cup to give him as much exposure as possible before he officially becomes a listed player in 2014.

Coach Mark Neeld said Hogan, who impressed in Melbourne’s opening NAB Cup losses against North Melbourne and Richmond respectively, will gain plenty of experience from this pre-season series.

“Realistically, the NAB [Cup] is the only time we can put Jesse in an AFL-like environment and that’s absolutely no disrespect to the VFL whatsoever,” he said of Hogan, who took some fine marks and kicked a goal against the Roos.

“We think he’s got a great year ahead of him and lots of learning against some quality opposition [in the VFL], but we’ll take the opportunity [to play him in the NAB Cup].

“As you saw tonight, he’s big enough and his tank’s big enough to experience the month, I reckon.”

Although pleased with Hogan’s official debut, Neeld said the Western Australian still had a lot to learn about being an AFL player.  He said Hogan’s situation was similar to Jack Viney last year, who was tied to the club, but not officially on the list in his first year training with Melbourne.

“We’re rapt with that system where we can get a player in for 12 months,” he said.

“By the time Jesse is eligible for AFL games, he will have had two pre-seasons and that’s an advantage.

“We‘ll have him on a program for the next 12 months to get him ready.”

Two other high profile youngsters who made their first official appearance for Melbourne were Jimmy Toumpas and Jack Viney. Both also earned praise from Neeld.

“They’re great in terms of the way they apply themselves. The expectation on those guys is that they come in and have a bit of a crack and play your role and then sit out a couple of games. We need to be mindful that they’re first year players,” he said.

“As the demands of the competition continue to increase every year, there are not too many first year players who come in and play every game and impact.

“They’re a year advanced and ahead of Jesse, but we’ve got to be mindful that they won’t be playing every game of the year. But they would’ve got some nervous energy out.”

Neeld said Toumpas and Viney were determined to be elite players.

“To their credit, both of them want to be the player that we all hope they’ll be in four years time,” he said.

“They want to have it yesterday, which is a great character to have.

“We’re in charge of managing their program and [we’re] not getting too carried away.”

Neeld said another Western Australian Dean Kent also showed some good signs in his first hit out for the Demons.

“I told him that I thought he played really well and that I thought he got to enough contests,” he said.

“For his first up effort, I thought he attacked the ball pretty well.

“He’s all right.”

Experienced recruits – Shannon Byrnes, David Rodan and Chris Dawes – also played their part, according to Neeld.

“Byrnes was really busy … and Dave Rodan showed the way that Dave Rodan can play. He gets the footy and he’s got some really good lateral movement … and Dawesy [played his part],” he said.

No.1 draft pick Jack Watts, now entering his fifth AFL season, also showed some good signs, on the back of his impressive 2012, before injury struck. Neeld said it’s easy to forget Watts is still a youngster.

“The football public have been talking about Jack Watts for what seems like an eternity and you have to look up and check [and say] ‘gee, is he still [only] 21 years of age? Yeah, he is’,” he said.

“He’s got a whole heap of development in front of him. He was pretty good Jack, I thought.

“When Jack Watts hits the 80 to 100 game mark, I think his confidence [will be better].”

Despite going down to North Melbourne by two points and Richmond by 15 points at Etihad Stadium on Friday night, Neeld said there were enough encouraging signs from both matches.

“I felt that we still stuck at our task pretty well and we managed to come back at the Kangaroos in the first [match],” he said.

“In the second half of the Richmond game, they were up and going a little bit. They had a couple of rushed behinds and they didn’t kick a goal in the second half, so those little things are quite good.

“There was enough [gained from] there.”

Melbourne copped two injuries from the night: Sam Blease (ankle) and James Frawley (cut head).