SOME players just demand attention.
 
When the football is in their hands, things happen.
 
They are lively, bouncy and occasionally, unpredictable.
 
Melbourne speedster Sam Blease is one of those players.
 
His goal of the week nomination from last Saturday's game against Fremantle was the latest proof of his attacking qualities.
 
He outpaced his opponent Matt De Boer, took a bounce and kicked a goal from the 50-metre line.
 
The act was audacious but Blease made it appear as though it was easier than making soup.
 
It was another telling moment for a player who is finally getting a chance to prove that he can seriously play, nearly four years after being drafted as a 17-year-old with pick No.17 in 2008.
 
The next step, admits Blease, is to get fit enough to both attack and, critically, defend when the occasion demands.
 
"Definitely the endurance side of the game is something I need to improve on, " Blease said.

"I have been a short distance athlete all my life. I have got an OK fitness base at the moment [but I've] just still got so much work to do. That is why I am really looking forward to this pre-season and really having a crack and getting as fit as I can."
 
No wonder the prospect is exciting to him because a couple of uninterrupted pre-seasons spent building the speed/endurance combination necessary to play modern football (something denied him so far) might be all Blease needs to play solid four-quarter football.
 
Even his coach Mark Neeld, who Blease says has got a good sense of humour, can see the youngster's upside.
 
"He'll be a good one, I think," Neeld said before round 15. "He's going to be OK."
 
On that occasion the coach was not joking.
 
Hopefully what lies ahead of Blease is OK.
 
Because the hiccups behind him have been well documented.
 
One of three Demons selected before pick 20 in the 2008 draft, with Jack Watts at No.1 and James Strauss at No.19, Blease broke his ankle at school in 2009.
 
After a long rehabilitation and some self-doubt, he finally made his senior debut in round 15, 2011.
 
That game is sadly still the only time the talented trio of Demons taken early in 2008 have played senior football together.
 
"We were kids amongst men," Blease said, reflecting on those early days.

"We're still developing and it has taken us a little bit longer for whatever reason. It has been good to come through together and we're all good mates."
 
The words are delivered with a grin, as finally things seem to be running Blease's way.
 
The 21-year-old has played football each week this season, spending the past eight games at AFL level.
 
He relays that fact with some wonder; he can't remember stringing so many games together since football became serious.
 
And as contract negotiations start to get underway between his manager and the club, he is hopeful too that there will be positive news for Demon fans in that area by season's end.
 
"You always want to stay at the club that you have been drafted by. If I continue to play good footy, that will end up sorting itself out by the end of the year hopefully," Blease said.
 
He's smart enough to concentrate on football because he knows that playing good footy requires continued improvement in all areas. While he builds on his ability to break the game open with pace, it's important that he develops "the defensive aspects [that] can help me be an all-round better player."
 
Adjusting to being a 'two-way' player is, he admits, still both a physical and mental challenge at times but any difficulties he encounters should not be mistaken for a lack of will to defend.
 
"It's more that under fatigue and under the heat of the game you might just switch off for five seconds, and in that five seconds the game is moving so quickly that your direct opponent has got a kick and it has gone inside 50 and they have kicked a goal that is on your head," Blease said.
 
The issue, he suspects, is sometimes concentration, an understandable explanation for someone who has played, to the surprise of many, just 14 games.
 
It was a concentration lapse admits Blease that cost him a pre-season match when he copped a club-imposed suspension for missing a meeting earlier in the year.
 
Blease was at AAMI Park but forgot the meeting was on. "It just slipped my mind and I was up getting physio and then realised we had a meeting," Blease said.
 
He didn't enjoy the possible perception that missing the meeting created both internally and externally, but he understood the need for a penalty.
 
"Sometimes it's a hard lesson to learn but it had to be learned," Blease said. "I've got my diary and my phone that I use religiously now."
 
There were more lessons to learn too soon after that shock as he was left out of the senior side for six weeks following the team's round one loss to the Brisbane Lions.
 
He remained pragmatic during that period, even though it was difficult at times, and says now his form did not warrant a game.
 
"It was frustrating and there were a few moments where I dropped my head and it wasn't the greatest place to be but persistence paid off a little bit and I got my chance again," he said.
 
Now he is focused on improving his tackle count in the last seven games of the season while maintaining those trademark, linebreaking runs.
 
And as his experience grows he hopes that, so too, will his ability to pick himself up after a mistake, any thoughts of dropping the head a thing of the past. 
 
He's becoming a favourite Blease and the feelings run both ways. 
 
"It was probably my second or third year when I had not played a lot at all and I thought maybe this isn't for me. They (Melbourne) stuck by me and developed me to be able to come up and play AFL football, so there is always that little soft spot between me and the club," Blease said.