Martin, a versatile player who spent most of his time forward last season, did the bulk of the ruckwork during the team’s intra club match at Casey Fields on Friday morning while Mark Jamar, Paul Johnson, John Meesen and Jake Spencer continued their rehabilitation programs.
Teammate Matthew Bate said a versatile player such as Martin was an asset to the club.
“He went forward and kicked some miraculous goals last year and started off as a backman so he’s experienced in all areas," Bate said.
"It’s valuable to have someone nearly 200cm be able to play anywhere on the ground.”
The only other fit ruckman who may be given an opportunity is first year player Max Gawn, who stands at 206cm.
Jamar, who was sidelined with a foot and quad injury for most of season 2009, appears to be the closest ruckman to return to training at this stage, while Johnson and Meesen still have a way to go after both underwent foot surgery.
“Mark Jamar is in rehab but is running pretty well and he should be able to start training on Monday or next week sometime,” Bate said.
“Paul Johnson is probably still a fair way off and his injury is a little similar to John Meesen’s who’s also out. They both have feet injuries and had to have surgery so they’ve got extended stays (on the sidelines).”
Spencer who also suffered a foot injury in 2009 participated in some light running at training but due to illness has lost around 11 kilograms.
Melbourne has been hit with a string of serious foot injuries over the last 12 months, with defender Colin Garland also on the road to recovery from stress fractures in his foot that kept him out of action last year.
Bate has joined Garland in the rehab group over the past month, after foot soreness after the Christmas break forced him to pull out of pre-season training.
“They (club doctors) wanted to give me a bit of a break to get on top of that because we’ve had a few people with stress fractures and they didn’t want it to turn into something like that,” Bate said.
“I’ve been spending a bit of time with him (Garland) in the rehab group and he’s going well. He’s obviously been out of the game for about a year and it’s very frustrating for him. But he is on the road back and has started running again, which is a really good sign.”
While Bate is hopeful of playing round one of the 2010 NAB Cup, the medical staff at Melbourne are taking a cautious approach.
“It’s up to the physios and they can be conservative sometimes but they said I’m a pretty good chance for round one NAB Cup. But if there are any signs of soreness they won’t risk me,” Bate said.
Bate trained away from the main group on Friday morning, completing some light kicking and handball drills before joining injured teammates Aaron Davey and Austin Wonaeamirri, who are both managing soft tissue injuries, in some light running and jogging.
