Melbourne pair confirmed to face Lions, Goodwin discusses Oliver role

Melbourne will recall forward pair Harrison Petty and Jake Melksham for Sunday's meeting with Brisbane, while star Demon Clayton Oliver's role is yet to be settled on.

The Demons confirmed at least three changes to their Round 10 side on Thursday, with Matthew Jefferson, Jacob van Rooyen and Koltyn Tholstrup ruled out of the trip to Queensland.

In their place, Melbourne selected Melksham, Petty, Tom Fullarton, Blake Howes, Aidan Johnson and Bailey Laurie as their potential ins.

Speaking o Friday, coach Goodwin confirmed Petty and Melksham will play, with the Demons' selection committee to weigh up their third inclusion after training.

"Petty and Melksham are both back available, and are both pretty important players to us in the front half of the ground. So those guys will come back into the team," the Melbourne coach said.

"We'll work through that last spot post-training today. But they're two really important players in the front half of the ground, experienced players that help our forward line function."

van Rooyen's absence comes amid a frustrating campaign for the former first-round draftee, who has fallen in and out of Goodwin's side this season.

The Melbourne coach explained van Rooyen is needing to work on his craft in the VFL, but is expected to be a key piece of the club's plans moving forward.

"We don't want to bring young players out of the team," Goodwin said of the 22-year-old.

"We had a pretty strong plan with Jacob, and we had some things that we wanted to work on in his games to get him right back to his best.

"Obviously with Petty and Melksham being out of the team last week, we were sort of forced, in a way, to bring him back into the AFL.

"There's some things in his game that were heading in the right direction, but we want to see a little bit more, and he's working incredibly hard.

"He's a big part of our future, and there's no question that he'll be back in the AFL team in the not-too-distant future."

After the aforementioned Oliver took on a tagging role last week, limiting Hawthorn gun Jai Newcombe, the four-time best and fairest winner could be deployed for a similar role this weekend against the Lions.

Not short of star opponents in midfield, Goodwin said it's a role they'll weigh up, but it won't be a long-term play for Oliver.

"That's something we'll certainly look at," Goodwin said.

"I'll say this a lot: there's two things with Clayton. One's his health, that we're working on, and two is getting him back to his best footy. The thing that we love about Clayton right now, he'll do whatever the team needs him to do.

"We loved what he did last week in terms of his role. We want to continue to grow his game, but we'll certainly assess that post-training today. We're not committed to him being a long-term tagger. It's about what's best for the team right now."

The Demons are hoping to have vice-captain Jack Viney available midway through next week as he works through concussion protocols, while defender Jake Lever will return from an ankle injury via the VFL this week.

Depending on his progress, Lever could require a second week at the state league level before his returns to Goodwin's side.

Melbourne will venture to Brisbane in the coming days ahead of their Sunday clash with the reigning premiers.