KEY FORWARD Chris Dawes says he’s feeling in the “best shape” of his career heading into the 2015 season.

A calf injury interrupted Dawes’ 2014 pre-season and caused him to miss the first three matches of the year.

But with a full pre-season to date, the forward said he was excited for the season to come.

“On a personal level I’m pretty excited, this is the first year for three years where I haven’t had an interrupted pre-season,” Dawes said.

“The proof will be in the pudding – I’m hoping that it translates into a good year of footy and certainly in the past when I’ve had a full pre-season, it has.

“I’m up and running and haven’t missed too many sessions - I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in for my whole career.”

Injuries to Dawes and Jesse Hogan, alongside Mitch Clark’s retirement, meant Melbourne’s forward line was shaken up early in 2014.

With a number of players rotated through the forward line over the course of the season, Dawes topped the club’s goal kicking award with just 20 goals.

But with the majority of Melbourne’s key forwards and ruckmen fit and firing this pre-season, he said the forward group was back on track, with competition for spots high.

“I’ll back myself in to play from round two… but even my job’s not safe with the amount of talls that we’ve had out on the track and healthy,” Dawes said.

“[Jack] Fitzpatrick’s made some real strides, so he’s going to be one to watch through this NAB Challenge series.

“Hogan obviously gets talked about a lot and I’m sure he’s capable of playing come round one, then throw into it [Cameron] Pedersen, or [Max] Gawn or [Mark] Jamar resting forward from the ruck and we’ve got some genuine tall options up there.”          

Having spent 11 days in Maroochydore for Melbourne’s pre-season camp, Dawes said the time away had allowed the group to push through “a huge load of work”.

“We’ve been able to have a really focused workload and I think, almost to a man, everyone has improved and achieved what they set out to do pre-camp,” Dawes said.

“I think that’s a sign of a well-organised and well-run camp but also a playing group that’s pretty committed and pretty excited about where we’re headed.”