AFTER making a successful return from injury, Melbourne forward Colin Sylvia hopes he can play a major role in the Demons senior side for the remainder of the season and lead his younger teammates towards a top-eight berth.

Returning to the side after missing the previous three games with a blood clot in his toe, Sylvia was relieved to wear the red and blue jumper again as the Demons notched their fifth win of the season with a 19 point win over Essendon at the MCG.

“It’s been a bit of a frustrating year for me individually, but that’s footy,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“It’s good to be out there and contributing and coming away with a really good win - I’m looking forward to the next seven weeks, really enjoy my football and notch up a few more wins.”

Sylvia said he gained plenty of confidence in the VFL last week, and the Melbourne forward didn’t miss a beat against the Bombers, collecting 29 disposals and kicking two goals in their fifth win of the season.

“I was really restricted for the last four to five weeks of training - I probably lost a little bit of fitness so it was good to get a game under my belt,” he said.

“It put me in good stead for this week’s game.”

After managing just one win from their previous nine matches, Sylvia paid tribute to his fellow teammates for their performance which sees them sit above Essendon in 11th position.

“It’s been up and down - just two wins now in the past 10 weeks - so it’s good to get reward a little bit today,’ he said.

“We worked really hard for this one and got ourselves up for a really big one and to come away with the four points, all the boys deserve credit.”

Sylvia admitted some disappointment with the way the Demons finished the game, as the Bombers kicked six of the last seven goals to add some respectability to the scoreboard.

“We didn’t finish the game off as well as we would’ve liked - we took our foot off the pedal a little bit,” he said.

Immediately after the match, the 24-year old said he pulled up well from the injury and is already looking forward to the Demons clash against Fremantle next Sunday afternoon at Subiaco.

“It’s the best I’ve felt all year - I just have to monitor it and still manage it,” he said.

“But I definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel - it’s improving each day and it’s going to continue to get stronger and stronger.