Jake Melksham says his 12-month suspension couldn’t have come at a better time

JAKE Melksham and Michael Hibberd are putting the Essendon supplements saga behind them and say they won’t take anything for granted as they begin life as Demons.

MELBOURNE duo Jake Melksham and Michael Hibberd are adamant that they will take nothing for granted as they prepare for life as Demons.

The former Bombers saw out their year-long bans — the hangover from their time at Essendon in 2012 — in very different ways, with Melksham welcoming daughter Frankie less than a week before the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed down its ruling and working as a labourer with Hibberd travelling the world and training.

Melksham said that while the ban was anything but ideal, the timing of Frankie’s birth proved a welcome distraction that helped ward off bitterness and maybe even rebellion.

“It was a really good distraction that took my mind off everything and put everything in perspective,” he said.

Jake Melksham and Michael Hibberd at Melbourne training on Friday. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“I can honestly say that if I didn’t have her, I probably would have spent the whole year away and who knows what I would have been doing ... I might have rebelled a little bit and been pretty bitter about things, but that just kept me in a good, positive frame of mind and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the year with my daughter.”

Melksham — who was traded from Essendon at the end of 2015, three months before he was slapped with the ban — said that his work as a labourer during the suspension has left him grateful to be returning to the AFL.

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“When I was standing around digging holes full of rock I was thinking about the boys sitting in meetings going through tactics and doing all the things I thought were pretty boring at the club that I now cherish quite a lot,” he said.

“It’s a different and unique situation, but I won’t take anything for granted anymore, that’s for sure.”

He and Hibberd trained away from the main group on Frirday as they look to ramp things up and join their teammates from next week.

Michael Hibberd juggles footballs at Demons training. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

They were put through their paces for almost two hours at Gosch’s Paddock alongside Dom Tyson and Jack Viney, with the main group hitting the track as music pumped from large speakers in a rare touch for an outdoor session.

Hibberd, who is hopeful of slotting into Melbourne’s backline next season after overcoming patella tendinitis, said that while the year off was “tough”, it reignited his love for the game.

“I have really learned to love footy a lot more,” he said.

“I realised that I missed it a lot and to miss a year of footy I realised this is really what I want to do and for the next however many years I have playing I am going to put everything I have into it.

“This is an exciting group and they are only going to get better.”

Originally published as Jake Melksham says his 12-month suspension couldn’t have come at a better time