AFTER spending 679 days on the sidelines, Aaron vandenBerg is thrilled to be preparing for a maiden AFL finals series.

vandenBerg was plagued by a foot injury over the past two seasons, but with four consecutive matches at senior level under his belt, he has confidence in his body leading into September.

“I’m really happy the medical team got me into the position to play where I am today,” vandenBerg told Melbourne Media.

“They were fantastic and we had that goal in mind the whole time.

“You can be a little bit impatient at times because you always want to get back, but it’s a credit to their work.

“What they do outside the club for me and to get me back to this position, I can’t be thankful enough.”

The 26-year-old had 21 disposals and laid six tackles in Melbourne’s 45-pont win over the GWS Giants on Sunday, and he says his main focus is to apply pressure on the opposition.

“We’re a contest-based team and that’s what keeps me in the side,” he said.

“[The pressure] is what Simon (Goodwin) values, so as long as I keep doing that and working for the team, I’ll keep holding my spot.”

The Demons secured their place in September with a 17-point win over West Coast in round 22, but vandenBerg was determined to finish the season strongly.

“Obviously it was exciting to know that we were in it last week, but it was a credit to the team, they got the mind on the job for this week,” he said.

“It’s a great testament to get the home final wrapped up and we’re really looking forward to getting out there against Geelong.”

Melbourne’s stirring victory over the Giants has given the side plenty of belief that they can beat any team in the finals.

“There’s a lot of confidence in this group,” vandenBerg said.

“We got challenged because we hadn’t beaten a top eight side prior to West Coast, but regardless of what you hear outside we always knew we could do it.

“It’s just a matter of getting it done.

“We came out and played really well against West Coast, and then to back it up and play as well as we did [against GWS] … it shows the character of the group.”

Melbourne scored a total of 156 more points than any other side during the 2018 home and away season, playing a brand of football that can do some damage in September.

“We think we can mix it with anyone,” vandenBerg said.

“So we’ll prepare like we always do, we’ll look after ourselves really well over the next two weeks and give ourselves the best opportunity to play well against Geelong.”