STOPPAGES/contest coach Ben Mathews says the overall development of the club’s list has been one of the most pleasing aspects of Melbourne’s first half of the season.

Mathews said “the development across all age brackets has been really good” in 2016.

“We’re really pleased with the development of our young and older players,” he told Melbourne TV.

“We’ve certainly seen some growth in the likes of [James] Harmes, [Christian] Petracca and Clarry has really improved. Then there is [Tomas] Bugg and [Ben] Kennedy – the guys we’ve brought in as well – they’ve all taken a step forward.

“Pleasingly, some of the middle-tier players [have improved] like Dom Tyson, who has raised his game, and Jack Viney, who has been excellent, and we’ve all seen Max Gawn’s improvement.

“Then there are the senior players, who have really led the charge in that respect, like Nathan Jones, who has definitely improved his game, his leadership and on-field game. Bernie Vince has stepped it up again after two really solid seasons with Melbourne. Those players are really showing the way for our younger players.”

With one more match before Melbourne’s mid-season bye, Mathews said it was something that hadn’t been spoken about too much. 

“It’ll be a good chance to refresh, but our full focus goes on playing Sydney in Sydney,” he said.

“There is no bigger challenge in footy, really at the moment and it’s one that you want to test yourself, when you’re an up and coming, developing team.

“It’s going to take 22 committed players on the weekend, so [we’re] looking forward to the break after that and it’ll be a good chance for any team to refresh. Ours is no different, given we’ve got plenty of young fellas in the team.

“It’s a full focus for Sydney at Sydney on Sunday.”