STEVEN May had his doubters last pre-season, but the same can’t be said 12 months on.

After managing just eight games in his first year for the Dees, the star defender is doing whatever it takes to ensure he’s at his best in 2020.

“I’m pretty light, I’m running well, I’m training well – so I’m told,” May told Melbourne Media.

“I’m just enjoying it and trying to get through to Chrissy at the moment.”

The 27-year-old is looking to be as durable as he can next season and has shredded some weight to help him achieve just that.

“I was about 102-103kg, which is what I’ve played at for most of my career, and I’m about 97 and a half (kg) at the moment,” May said.

This change has helped him recover better from the gruelling running sessions and has left him in “career best” shape.

And while the workload has been intense, May, and his teammates, seem to be enjoying the grind.

“I thought last year was a tough start but Burgo (Darren Burgess) has definitely come in and implemented a solid program,” he said.

“As you could see today, it was a lot of football and that’s what we’re here to do.

“The boys are going pretty hard, it’s getting pretty competitive, but I’m loving it.”

The Demons seem to be doing more ball work than ever this pre-season, and importantly, there have been plenty of numbers completing the sessions out on Gosch’s Paddock.

“Last year we had a lot of guys not even training with us, so it was a bit hard to do full length drills,” May said.

“I think at one stage we had 39 blokes out there, so it’s unreal.”

And with a fit list comes an opportunity for the group to work on some specific areas of their game.

“I think also being able to play with the back six, back seven, get some continuity going [because] last year I didn’t really play with Jakey Lever and Nev Jetta and all these guys until late Feb,” May said.

“Today was a bit scrappy with our skills, but that was on the back of defence and that’s been our major focus, so Goody seems pretty happy.”

Melbourne has one last training session on Wednesday morning before the players take off on their Christmas break.