MELBOURNE midfielder Billy Stretch says the sides first hit out of 2019 was an overwhelming success.

It was a warm morning at Olympic Park on Friday as the Demons claimed a 24-point victory over Collingwood.

While the result of the contest was insignificant, Stretch was thrilled to get back on the field for his first competitive match since suffering a stress fracture in his toe last year.

“I have been on the sidelines a little bit, but it was just fun to be out there playing again,” Stretch told Melbourne Media.

After a long pre-season grind, Stretch enjoyed working on the team chemistry and coming up against some new opponents in the practice match.

“I think as a team we really got a lot out of it and we pretty much put into practice what we had been training over the summer,” he said.

“So it was good to just play footy again and play against some opposition rather than just playing against ourselves.

“It was great to be back out there and into it now, it was good fun.”

Although Friday’s clash was an unofficial match, the Demons looked to take a lot out of the session.

With just two JLT matches remaining prior to Round 1, it was important for both sides to test out the fundamentals that had been worked on during the off-season.

“I think everything we put into practice over summer we just want to put that on show,” Stretch said.

“Today we really stood up in the contest and our defence was really good.

“There’s still a lot of things to work on and a lot of learnings to come out of the game but we’ll review that and look to put them in place over the next couple of JLT games.”

Stretch liked what he saw from his side throughout the game and said Melbourne’s new recruits looked at home in the red and blue.

Braydon Preuss, Tom Sparrow, Marty Hore and Corey Wagner all pulled on the Demons guernsey for the first time against the Pies, and genuinely proved their worth.

“They were great,” Stretch said.

“Big Preussy in the ruck, he was very dominant and it was good to see Wags and Tommy Sparrow having a hit out as well.

“They fitted in seamlessly and all-round everyone had a really good hit out and got some good km’s in the legs.”

Melbourne’s next official match will be played in Round 1 of the JLT competition against Richmond at Deakin Reserve (Shepparton) on Sunday, March 3.