By his own reckoning, powerful midfielder Brent Moloney concedes 2006 was a right off.

After finishing fourth in the club's 2005 best and fairest award – his first season at Melbourne after 23 matches with Geelong from 2003-04 – Moloney was rocked with shoulder and groin injuries last year, resulting in just seven appearances.

“Last year was very disappointing. I couldn't shake off the groin injuries and I ended up getting two groin operations and a shoulder operation before the end of the season, and then I didn't train too much and I did rehab before Christmas,” Moloney told melbournefc.com.au.

“I've been training fully, ever since we got back after Christmas, so it's been good.

“I did my shoulder before the (2006) season started and I decided not to get an operation and I just played with it throughout the season, but then my groins flared up just before the start of the season and I couldn't get going fully.

“It was very frustrating, but that's all in the past now and I'm looking forward to 2007.”

A key component of Melbourne's midfield, Moloney believes the setbacks will help him return to the type of football fans have come to expect.

“I feel like I'm training well now and I'm getting to know my body now and what it's capable of doing. It does take a while to know what it can do, because it's go, go, go and you just want to be as fit as you can,” Moloney says.

“But now I'm listening to my body a bit more and I'm starting to understand what it takes to be a top AFL midfielder.”

Now in his third season with Melbourne, Moloney is relishing wearing the red and blue after he was originally drafted by Geelong in the Pre-Season Draft in December 2002.

“I love it here,” he says. “The boys are great, and I barracked for Melbourne as a kid, so I always wanted to play for them, and I'm just really enjoying my time here.

“We've got a very good list of experience, while there are some good young guys coming through and we all want to finish in the top four, but at this stage we're just looking at St Kilda in round one and getting off to a good start to the season.”

And Moloney believes the 2007 squad is the best he has seen in his time at Melbourne.

“Definitely. When I got here we had a good side, but we won a final last year and we've now got a bit more experience and the younger guys are coming along, like 'Brocky' (Brock McLean), 'Jonesy' (Nathan Jones) and 'Bater' (Matthew Bate),” Moloney says.

“And the older guys like James McDonald have got better and everyone else has improved, so hopefully it's going to be an exciting year for the supporters.”