Demons to unveil ‘proven’ former Crow

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin praised the “power of work” former Adelaide Crow Shane McAdam has done after confirming he’ll make his debut for the Demons against West Coast on Sunday to bolster a forward line without Jacob van Rooyen.

McAdam, 28, has recovered from a series of pre-season setbacks that included calf issues on both legs either side of Christmas and then a hamstring injury in March that sidelined him for a month.

Looking to bounce back from last week’s narrow loss to Carlton, Goodwin confirmed McAdam, who booted 72 goals for the Crows and looms as a solid forward line addition, would travel to Perth for the clash against the Eagles.

“Shane McAdam will definitely debut for the club,” Goodwin said on Thursday morning.

“He’s put in a power of work. He had to really go back to base camp in terms of his ability to get his body right. He spent the last 10 or 12 weeks doing that, preparing for AFL footy.

“He’s a proven AFL footballer and he came to our footy club to have an impact. He’s incredibly excited to be in the team and play alongside his great mate Kozzie Pickett. It’s great to get him healthy and out there playing for us.”

The Demons didn’t score in the opening quarter last week, putting better starts on the agenda for Goodwin and his players.

They also needed five goals from midfield star Christian Petracca to get within the final margin of one point and Goodwin said he was confident they had the personnel to kick consistently big scores.

“We’re growing in that phase of the game. We think we have the personnel ahead of the ball to have a significant impact,” Goodwin said.

“We’ll continue to work on ways we get higher quality entries and bigger scores.”

Goodwin also said his preparation for the Eagles would include time spent coming up with plans to stop the impact of superstar No.1 pick Harley Reid.

“He’s a star. He’s someone that when you watch come through the under-18s into the draft, you see the vision, you see the hype, and you want to see how that translates,” he said.

“As a lover of the game, he’s someone you go to the games to watch, as you do with Christian Petracca or Kozzie Pickett.

“He’s someone you have to plan for and have some plans in place if he gets out of control. He’s a special talent and a special player.”