COACH Paul Roos says exciting youngster Christian Salem could be a possibility to make his AFL debut against the Sydney Swans at the MCG on Saturday night.

Roos said Salem, Melbourne’s first pick in last year’s NAB AFL Draft (No.9), who notched up 32 disposals for Casey against Frankston at Frankston Oval on Sunday in the VFL, had put his name in the mix after a strong performance.

But Roos also indicated that Salem may have to keep knocking the door down with further solid performances.

“He’s (Salem) improving and what we want to try and create at the club is a system where guys have to bang the door down to get into the team. We saw that with Neville Jetta and he was terrific for five or six weeks and then he eventually got his chance on the list,” he said on Dee TV’s Roos’ Views.

“It’s not really an age thing – it’s just a fact that we want players playing well week in, week out and setting standards in the seconds, and trying to knock the door down before they get a game.

“Certainly, he’s starting to look comfortable at that level and it was clearly his best game for the club at that level. So he’s really building nicely and he starts to come into contention and you start to talk about them at match committee, when they start playing well.”

Roos said experienced Demon duo, defender Colin Garland and ruckman Mark Jamar, were also making good progress after injury-interrupted starts to the season.

“He (Garland) certainly looked competent and did some things well – it’s more how he pulled up and his game time – and whether we think he’s ready to play or not,” he said.

“He (Jamar) was certainly a lot better on the weekend, than what he’d been the previous two [weeks]. Even though he’s only played three games, he’s only a month to five weeks into his preparation. Is that enough? He certainly looked a lot better on the weekend.”

Meanwhile, Roos said he was relaxed about coming up against his former club, the Sydney Swans, for the first time as coach. He said it was more of an issue when he played against Fitzroy for the first time, when he joined the Swans as a player.

“As a player, I remember when I left Fitzroy, I played against Fitzroy, playing for the Swans … when you’re a player, you’re a bit nervous before the game and then you play the game,” he said.

“That was a pretty tough one, but the feeling is completely different as a coach.

“I had eight good years there and I worked in the academy and then moved on, so for me it’s just another game of footy and another opportunity for us to get better against a really high quality opposition.”

Roos said while he had good knowledge on several Sydney players, it didn’t make much of a difference in planning.

“Most of what we’re trying to do now is get ourselves right. When I was coaching the Swans, we spent a lot more time on the opposition, because we felt we had things right there through the mid 2000s. So you spend a lot of time on the opposition, trying to work out what they’re doing,” he said.

“What we’re trying to focus on at the moment is getting those simple things right and trying to put some things in place that we think eventually are going to make us a good team.

“So we haven’t spent as much time on oppositions, as I probably did at Sydney, when I was coaching Sydney, and that’s been a real focus for us – just trying to get ourselves right.

“I know some of the players, but really the knowledge is irrelevant, because we’ve just really got to focus on ourselves.”