MEASURED Melbourne coach Paul Roos won't be rushed into playing precocious midfielder Christian Petracca against Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.

Although an impatient Petracca has bombarded the coach with text messages to push his case for selection, he is unlikely to play in the Anzac Day eve clash

Roos said he wanted the No.2 draft pick to be "super-fit" when his chance comes and the wait would not hurt the 20-year-old.

Roos said the club thought Petracca would need to play at least four weeks of VFL after returning from a knee reconstruction and a broken toe, and despite his good form last week against Collingwood's VFL team, he had still only played three consecutive games.

"The first two games [were] more about fitness and just getting him ready to play. Last week it was starting to be more about form," Roos said.

"We want to make sure he is super-fit when he plays."

Roos named Petracca in the squad of 25 but said last year's best and fairest winner Bernie Vince and small forward Jeff Garlett would be selected ahead of the 20-year-old to replace Clayton Oliver and Matt Jones.

The premiership coach said it was no surprise Melbourne supporters were excited about the prospect of Petracca's debut as it was a normal for them to want to see top draft picks on the big stage.

But he felt no pressure to play him.

"A lot of it is not an exact science, particularly for young kids coming into the side," Roos said.

"I think we're now at the point where Christian's fitness will allow him to play AFL football, another week or however long he takes to get in the team is not going to hurt him."

Roos said Melbourne was trying to build a consistent style of football that would stack up over the long term. And he expected Richmond to be a huge challenge.

"Their best is going to be very good," Roos said.

"If our best plays against their best based on the body of work [we've seen], you'd probably think it is going to be hard to win, but if we continue to narrow that gap which we appear to be [doing], then we will beat some really, really good sides."

The Demons are hoping to win two in a row for the first time since 2011 and the coach said it would be nice to get over that little hurdle.

"To be a good team and a finals team and a top-four team, clearly you need to string wins together," Roos said.