JAMES McDonald has been given the opportunity to lead Melbourne back up the premiership ladder after being re-appointed as the club's captain.

McDonald, 33, was given the nod to lead the Dees for a second season following a largely player-driven selection process that also saw Aaron Davey, Jared Rivers, Brent Moloney, Brad Green, Cameron Bruce and Brad Miller voted into the leadership group.

"It's a huge honour to be the captain of the Melbourne Football Club," McDonald said.
 
"The last three years we have been through a bit of pain, but we can really see some improvement coming through in the younger players. They learned a lot about playing together last season and we're really optimistic and excited about the year ahead.

"Everyone knows realistically where we're at and where we want to get to. We're all on the same page."

Davey and Rivers will take on official leadership roles for the first time and McDonald was confident both would bring a lot to the table.

"Aaron really stepped up last season. He won our best and fairest and I think his consistency was really important," he said. "He'll be a huge asset to the leadership group.

"Jared's had a few bad years with injury, but he was able to get back out there this year and become a really important player for us. We've got a lot of young backmen and he shows some great leadership down there."

McDonald had a torrid time of it after taking over the top job from long-serving skipper David Neitz prior to the 2009 season with the Demons going on to collect the wooden spoon for the second year running.

He admitted to some occasional dark thoughts during his torrid baptism of fire, but he's emerged the other side of his first year in charge better for the experience.

"It would be great if you could walk in your first year and do a Tom Harley and win a premiership as captain," he said. "That obviously wasn't the case for me, but I think that will really make me appreciate it when we start seeing the rewards for hard work.

"It's been tough and it's been challenging not just for me, but for all the players, the coaches and the club as a whole.

"I'd be lying if I said that it hasn't been [like that] sometimes and you think 'what am I doing?', but there are still more good times than bad."

McDonald sees tangible signs of improvement and reasons for optimism for the 2010 campaign in the development of the club's young list and the relative health of the players during the critical pre-Christmas conditioning phase of the pre-season.

A swag of top picks in recent years, including young stars in the making Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, only add to the buzz in Demonland.  

"But there's still a lot of hard work to do," McDonald cautioned.

"You can't expect Tom and Jack to come in and make a huge impact right away. You've got to remember they are just young kids and they'll need some time to develop.

"All the boys we've picked up in the last few drafts are really driven to get better and that's all you can ask of them."