MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey has thrown his full support behind full back Nathan Carroll as he returns from an in-house suspension.

Carroll was sidelined for disciplinary reasons over summer but will play his first game of the season against the Western Bulldogs in Bendigo on Friday night.

Bailey said the defender deserved the recall after impressing on the track.

“Nathan’s been one of our better trainers for the whole pre-season and the last six weeks he has continued on that,” Bailey said.

“He has probably been our best trainer in the last week and a half. He’s at a stage now when he’s a little bit overcooked, to some degree, and he needs a couple of games before the real season starts. He’s looking forward to playing and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can produce.”

David Neitz, Brock McLean and Jeff White will also return for the Demons but Cameron Bruce will have to wait a little longer to get a taste of the action.

Bruce trained separately from the main group on Wednesday, completing light running drills as he works to overcome a knee injury.

“Brucey might be 50-50 for next week,” Bailey said.

“His running has been really good for the last two weeks and again we won’t take any risks with him [this week]. He’ll have to train very well next week to be a chance.”

Bailey said first-round draft pick Cale Morton could be in line for a senior game early in the home-and-away season after he was one of Melbourne’s best in last week’s loss to Richmond.

“If Cale plays well this week and next week, his name will certainly be one of many I hope to pick from,” Bailey said.

“Cale’s played one game and you don’t want to get over excited with one game but what he did was good and he played what we would expect him to. The ball’s in his court with how far he goes.”

Morton is one of a batch of young Demons to have impressed the new coach over the pre-season. Isaac Weetra, Shane Valenti and Austin Wonaeamirri were all blooded in the first round of the NAB Cup, as was Tom McNamara, who is the youngest player on an AFL list.

Bailey, who was an assistant with Port Adelaide last year, has seen plenty of South Australian native McNamara.

“As a club and with a fitness perspective for someone like Tommy, you don’t want to rush him in too early so you’ve got to do a lot of work at training,” Bailey said.

“He’s young but he’s played some good footy back in South Adelaide. I’ve got a good handle on where Tommy’s come from and he’ll progress nicely.”