Melbourne young gun Jacob van Rooyen will make his debut against Sydney

After being badly beaten last week and losing captain Max Gawn, Melbourne has turned to a young gun to reverse the team’s fortunes.

Jacob Van Rooyen has big shoes to fill. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Melbourne will unleash gun forward Jacob van Rooyen for the first time against Sydney on Sunday.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin has confirmed the 19-year-old will replace injured skipper Max Gawn in the side to face the Swans at the MCG.

Van Rooyen, pick 19 in the 2021 draft, had met high expectations placed on him to improve over his first two pre-seasons in senior football, Goodwin said.

“He’s worked incredibly hard at VFL level to develop his game over the last couple of years,” he said.

Jacob van Rooyen will replace Max Gawn in the Demons’ side against Sydney. Picture: Michael Klein

“We’ve been pretty hard on him about getting his game to the right level in terms of what we want from him.

“He’s continued to execute that through the pre-season and the first few weeks … that’s exciting for us, it’s exciting for our supporters and it’s exciting for everyone in the game to see a young, powerful forward come into the game.”

Goodwin said he expected van Rooyen to settle in nicely alongside key targets Ben Brown and Tom McDonald, but the Demons were not demanding big pack marks and multiple goal hauls from the 193cm teen.

“He’s trained with these guys for a few years now, so he’s got pretty good cohesion with this group already,” Goodwin said.

“One thing you’ll see from big Rooey is his ability to compete aerially. He goes at the ball hard, he creates a contest and his follow-up at ground level is exceptional.

“We won’t be asking him too much other than to do that for us – provide a real competition in the air and at ground level get after it – that’s what he does to a really high level.”

Steven May will play his first game for the season on Sunday. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Star defender Steven May was a “guaranteed” return to the side to take on the Swans, Goodwin said.

“We’ve been cautious with Steve, making sure he’s 100 per cent ready to go, but we need his leadership, we need his ability to win one-on-one contests, and he’s a really important player to us,” he said.

“We know where he plays his best footy – I’m sure he’ll be on Buddy at times, they’ve had a pretty good duel in recent years.”

Sydney has beaten Melbourne in four of the last five encounters between the clubs and in three of the last four games at the MCG.

Goodwin said the Demons would have to make alterations to their game plan following the Brisbane loss to stand a chance against the Swans.

“We’re getting a clearer and clearer picture about what we need to be good at against the Swans,” he said.

“We’re under no illusions that we need to make some changes to really take the game to them.

“They have had the wood on us, but that’s the great thing about AFL footy, we get the chance to go after the opposition and really set the scene against them.”