STOPPAGE coach Ben Mathews says Sunday’s final NAB Challenge match will be a good test for Melbourne when it takes on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

After victories over Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs, Mathews said it had so far been a positive pre-season campaign for the club.

“The boys have gained a lot of confidence out of two wins,” he told Dee TV.

“Port Adelaide had a strong side in and we were able to execute some stuff that we’ve been working on for a majority of the pre-season so credit to them; they [will] take belief and confidence out of that.

“[Then] albeit against a Western Bulldogs side that rested some of its players, we were still able to play and execute some of the things we’ve been planning and tailoring to them.

“We’ll put that it in our pocket and hopefully we can use some of it through the season and again, the guys get some confidence and belief [out of it] and just generally feel good about themselves.”

With key players being eased back into the side, Mathews said there was still plenty of work to be done before the season proper.

“Our ball movement is still not quite as we’d like it; there’s certainly some area of improvement to be had there but the endeavour around the ball has been excellent and the work at the contest and the stoppages have been positive,” he said.

“There are still a lot of things to be worked on obviously and we’re slowly integrating players back into the team at the right pace.

“[Bernie] Vince and [Nathan] Jones were able to play last week and we were able to make sure that they got the required amount of minutes but without putting them in jeopardy of cooking them.

“[Heritier] Lumumba is getting very, very close and we’ve still got to monitor [Clayton] Oliver and those younger type players that we don’t burn them out before the season even starts.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s clash, Mathews said that Melbourne would not be taking St Kilda lightly.

“Fingers crossed but we go in against a Saints team that’s going to be loading up. They missed their game last week up in Queensland due to the rain, which is unfortunate for them so they’ll have as strong a side as they possibly can out there to get the right minutes into players.

“It will be a good challenge for us and one that we’ll want to take head on.”

With new recruits like Ben Kennedy, Tom Bugg and draftee Clayton Oliver all donning the red and blue for the first time during NAB Challenge, Mathews said he was so far impressed by what they had brought to the side.

“We’ve had a lot of numbers go through [with] new players: Kennedy has gone through there, Bugg has gone through there, Oliver has gone through there and they’ve all in their own way, been really promising.

“Bugg and Kennedy coming from other clubs have been really hard at the footy. [They have] earned a lot of respect off their teammates for the way they’ve gone about their football, just putting their nose over the footy and winning the hard ball and tackling and putting the pressure on, so that’s all you can ask.

“Young Clayton, it’s all probably a bit of a blur for him but he couldn’t have done any more in my mind. He’s doing exactly what we’re asking of him and playing his role, being in the right spot at the right time. They’re all things that win respect from teammates and that’s what we’re all about; earning the respect of your teammates and he’s going about it the right way.”

While Melbourne’s attention is firmly focused on Sunday’s final pre-season hit-out, Mathews said a number of players could be pushing for round one selection.

“The positive is we’ve got a lot of players who are putting their hand up [for round one] so in my mind – and I haven’t projected too far ahead in terms of the round one team – [there’s a lot of players] playing the roles we’re asking of them so it will be tough selection all things going well this week.

“There’s up to 28-30 players that could potentially be in line and that is a good thing for the club.

“[It’s] a good position to be in no doubt having that flexibility.”