MELBOURNE forward Jake Melksham is adamant he'll be cherry ripe for round one, despite a pre-season recurrence of a hamstring strain suffered this year.

Sent for post-season surgery on an ankle injury he carried during 2018, the 27-year-old succumbed to hamstring soreness in his rehabilitation.

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While he's still yet to re-join the main group, the former Bomber is confident it won't harm his chances for the season opener.  

"I had a bit of ankle surgery at the end of the year, just to clean that up and coming back the other week a bit of hamstring tightness," Melksham said.   

"I actually injured that hamstring during the year (round 20) so I'm keeping that cautious at the minute just pre-Christmas." 

As the full group endured a physical two-hour session at Gosch's Paddock on Friday, Melksham was alongside Jack Viney (foot) and Jake Lever (knee) in the rehab group.

Now with three weeks to enjoy over Christmas, Melksham believes Viney won't be far away from re-joining main training.

"Jack's similar to Jake, it's a day-to-day thing on how he's feeling," he said.  

"I think he's progressing really well. He's just doing what he needs to do each day."

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All eyes were on the ruck battle between Max Gawn and recruit Braydon Preuss during the session before players were put through a punishing circuit to end proceedings.  

"One runs a bit better (Gawn) and one's a lot stronger (Preuss)," Melksham quipped. 

"The ruck contests are good and the running contests, there's a little bit of difference there.  

"It's been really good for Max, getting Braydon in to test Max and also it's invaluable to learn from an All Australian ruckman."

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Melksham also identified the growth of youngsters such as Sam Weideman and Charlie Spargo to drive the improvement for the Demons in 2019 after their preliminary final exit.