EXCITING small forward Dean Kent says he gained plenty of confidence from arguably his best AFL match yet against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

Kent, who played arguably his best match yet with three goals and a hand in Tom McDonald’s first two goals in the AFL, said he could enter pre-season with some extra confidence in his game.

“I’d say so [that it was my best AFL match so far],” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“I played as a small half-forward and it was a simple role. I either had to get forward or back – and it was easy for myself and it was good to get onto a couple and dish off a couple as well.  

“I knew it was my last game for this year, so I didn’t want to leave anything in the rooms – I wanted to leave it all out on the track.

“I’d like to play more consistent, but hopefully coming into next year, I can play the way I did against North and be a bit of a hassle for [opposition] defenders. I just want to get trust from my teammates and keep playing my role.”

Kent said he was itching to get into next pre-season, given he entered 2014 on a limited preparation due to injury.

“This year, I didn’t do a pre-season, so I’m really looking forward to doing a pre-season and becoming fitter, stronger and better. That’s another little thing I can look forward to and hopefully I can become better,” he said.

And he was also excited about the club’s future.  

“On the field, I know all of the boys are trying to give their all,” he said.

“Behind closed doors – and I’ve only been in the system for two years – but I think we’re working our arses off and that’s what Roosy has said and Shannon Byrnes, who has come from Geelong, said. They both think we’re training at an elite level.

“Byrnesy reckons we’re one of the hardest groups he’s trained with, so we’ve just got to bring it out on game day and have a red hot crack. Roosy was saying it was going to be a brutal pre-season, so all of the boys should be confident going into next year.”