MELBOURNE faces a tough call on whether to recall off-season recruit Ben Brown after the key forward put himself back into AFL contention.

Brown joined the Demons in last year's Trade Period but a pre-season knee injury scuppered his hopes of making an early mark.

The former Kangaroos ace has played just three games for Melbourne, with Bayley Fritsch, the resurgent Tom McDonald and, at times, Sam Weideman preferred up forward.

Despite its dominance, Melbourne is yet to settle on a consistent attack and Brown underlined his qualities with a five-goal haul against Essendon in the VFL - his first competitive outing since the competition was suspended in Victoria.

"He kicked five in the VFL but his training form and some of these match scrimmage stuff's been outstanding as well," coach Simon Goodwin told reporters on Wednesday.

"So he's starting to put together a big block of form, which puts him right in the calculations for selection.

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"That's what we wanted from Ben - to get his body healthy, get him fit, get him really confident in the way he's playing.

"Now it's really an opportunity that will present itself - or as a match committee we come out with the decision that we want to put him in the team.

"So we're still working through what that best mix looks like but he's giving himself every chance and holding up his end of the bargain."

The Demons have just a three-man injury list - Adam Tomlinson, Marty Hore and Aaron Nietschke (all knee injuries), and plenty of depth.

"The pleasing thing about last week in the VFL (is) Ben Brown kicked five, Sam Weideman got himself back into some form, Nathan Jones again was outstanding through the midfield along with Aaron vandenBerg," Goodwin said.

"So we've got options in terms of selection, but at the same time we're really happy with where we sit.

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"We're scoring at a rate that's better than the opposition and defending to a really high level.

"So yeah we've got some decisions to make and we've got some options but the main thing that we want is guys to be in form and give us those type of headaches."

Meanwhile, Goodwin lauded the defensive work of Kysaiah Pickett, who has been goalless the past two weeks after an electric start to the season, and expected the young gun to hit the scoreboard again soon.