Max Gawn has backed teammate Nathan Jones to fight his way back into Melbourne’s AFL team after the experienced midfielder was a surprise omission in round three.
Jones was dropped for the Demons’ clash with Essendon, which was later postponed indefinitely as a result of Bombers defender Conor McKenna’s positive COVID-19 test.
Former captain Jones took part in Melbourne’s hastily arranged intra-club match behind closed doors on Sunday and performed well, according to new skipper Gawn, who still sees the 32-year-old as part of the Demons’ best 22.
Melbourne have one win from two games this season and will return to action against Geelong at the MCG on Sunday.
“I know that Nathan will play a lot of good footy this year,” Gawn said after the intra-club match.
“The call was made to get (Aaron) vandenBerg in this week against the Bombers and that might not be the call for Geelong.
“Nathan was good out there today, so was Aaron, so was Harley (Bennell) as well and these sort of guys that are playing that half-forward role.
“I’m confident Nathan will come back and play all the games that he has to.”
Gawn said Jones had responded well to his omission and maintained a positive outlook.
“I did give him a ring straight after the news and his first thing was, ‘It’s alright, I’ll be back next week’,” Gawn said.
“Nathan Jones has played just under 300 games and only missed about 20, so that’s the kind of guy he is.”
Jones has played 287 games since making his AFL debut in 2006 and sits second on Melbourne’s all-time games played list.
He could become only the second Demons player behind David Neitz (306) to reach the 300-game milestone this year.