JACK Grimes says he is itching for pre-season training and starting under a new coaching regime.

The 2011 leadership group member played just six matches this year, after he was sidelined from round eight with a foot injury.

But the defender/midfielder has been working hard already to get his body ready for 2012.

“There is a lot of change, but a lot of positive energy,” Grimes told melbournefc.com.au.

“It’s great to have Neeldy [Mark Neeld] come in as an experienced senior AFL coach and then a guy like Neil Craig who will be helping out. I’m sure he’ll (Craig) be a great help to Neeldy and the assistant coaches.

“We didn’t want to have another year like last season and I feel like we’ve got a lot to prove next year and in the years to come.

“The coaching structure seems great and we’re looking forward to going the next step.”

Grimes is also looking forward to reacquainting with his former Northern Knights coach Paul Satterley, who has joined the Demons as a development forward line coach.

“He coached me in the under 18s at the Northern Knights, as a top age player,” he said.

“We had a pretty good team that year and some good players in there like Matty Kreuzer and Trent Cotchin.

“He was great - I really rated him - as a young, enthusiastic coach. He put a lot of time into it and we got a long way, although we didn’t quite win it in the end.

“He was a great teacher of the game and I know he was pretty successful with coaching Werribee in the VFL, so I’m looking forward to seeing him on board at the Dees.”

Grimes said Satterley was an educator and a great passion for coaching.

“Back in 2007 as my under 18s coach, he was really good with the 17 and 18 year olds back then at teaching them the game,” he said.

“When you get to that standard, you have to start thinking about structures a bit more and I found him very good at that.

“A lot of the guys came away having thought he was a great coach to play under.”