I was searching for a Jake Melksham appreciation thread to give it a bump but it doesn’t appear there is one (which is hard to believe). So here it is

This bloke has been excellent.

34 in August and playing the best footy of his career. And after missing the guts of a year due to an ACL. Phenomenal effort. I thought he was finished a couple of seasons back but he’s like a fine wine. Gets better with age

If we contend this year I’m sure Jake will be a big contributor.

Brilliant stuff Melks. We love your work.

It's such a pity (for him) that he lost form in 2021 and missed playing in a GF. Then he hit a real purple patch in 2023 only to be injured on the eve of the finals.

He's been an important part of our revival over the last 6 weeks and I hope he can stay injury-free and in good form.

An elite kick on both feet and a fantastic team player.

Losing Petty and then Jake at the end of 2023 hurt us big time.

Nice to see we can now extend player's career well into their 30's

Melk has been a frustration over the years. So much talent but just could not equate that to consistent performances

Seems like he has the mojo now. And it is so good watching him go about his work. I often wonder if he is a better kick inside 50 on his left as that he is on his right!

Great guy, family man and great for the club culture.

Why not play for another 2 years?

10 minutes ago, BDA said:

I was searching for a Jake Melksham appreciation thread to give it a bump but it doesn’t appear there is one (which is hard to believe). So here it is

This bloke has been excellent.

34 in August and playing the best footy of his career. And after missing the guts of a year due to an ACL. Phenomenal effort. I thought he was finished a couple of seasons back but he’s like a fine wine. Gets better with age

If we contend this year I’m sure Jake will be a big contributor.

Brilliant stuff Melks. We love your work.

Not hard to believe at all.

Apparently we “nursed” him to 200 games because he’s Goody’s favourite or he’s got photos of Goody’s wife or he ran over Goody’s dog or he has photos of Goody’s dog or he ran over Goody’s wife or Goody’s wife ran over his dog or whatever those ridiculous comments were.

Anyways, it’s awesome to see him getting the praise he deserves 👏 👏👏

I posed the question a few weeks back as well. Where has this elite level of performances been. He was great in 2023 u til the ACL. It’s hard for anyone to come back from an ACL but he’s defied time with his performances.

I think if he can muster another half dozen respectable performances this year I’d offer him another contract. He is not really holding back youth in that position and offers great leadership in the forward line.

I still maintain (alongside many other Demon fans) that we go deep into the 2023 finals series had Melksham not torn his ACL.

The fact we're here, two years later, and he's in close to career best form as an almost 34 year old is nothing short of remarkable.

I don't think an extension into 2026 is out of the question.

Corowa Rutherglens hopes get crushed every single year this guy gets on the park and plays well.

Not just Melksham but across the league there is some older heads in nearly career best form. Sidebottom, Gawn, Dangerfield, Taylor Walker kicking 75 goals at 34 years of age.

Whilst he is playing some really enjoyable footy and a great role of contribution, I have to nitpick and reminisce that this is not the best footy of his career as stated in OP. Jake has had a fantastic career with a prime that shouldn’t be glossed over. This final stanza is a great footnote of determination, but his career has had some real peaks along the way too.

Be nice if he could sprinkle a bit of his forward craft magic on the rest of our key forwards !!

Who could forget that left foot 50m goal in the semi against the Hawks. They'd had 9 of the last ten inside 50s and were coming hard in the 4th quarter. "what about that from Melksham".

Gus also involved in that passage, what a player.

He makes the deepest backman very accountable.

Stops the easy rebound

And is tough as nails.

Makes us alot better

1 hour ago, BigFez said:

Who could forget that left foot 50m goal in the semi against the Hawks. They'd had 9 of the last ten inside 50s and were coming hard in the 4th quarter. "what about that from Melksham".

Gus also involved in that passage, what a player.

His game against West Coast Eagles in 2018 in Perth was definitely one of the best games he has played in his career.

And I think this performance is so underrated amongst Melbourne supporters. Like he literally helped us get into the finals for the first time in 12 years.

23 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

His game against West Coast Eagles in 2018 in Perth was definitely one of the best games he has played in his career.

And I think this performance is so underrated amongst Melbourne supporters. Like he literally helped us get into the finals for the first time in 12 years.

And then I'd argue won us the final against Hawthorn in 2018.

His contested mark v Brisbane in that remarkable comeback win at the G was incredible. 2022 or 2023?

I remember Essendon supporting friends laughing at us picking him up back in 2015. They though Pig was a great get (he was), but also thought giving Melk a 4 year deal was absurd.

Both acquisitions worked out for us in the end.

1 hour ago, BigFez said:

Who could forget that left foot 50m goal in the semi against the Hawks. They'd had 9 of the last ten inside 50s and were coming hard in the 4th quarter. "what about that from Melksham".

Gus also involved in that passage, what a player.

one of my all time favourite moments

i was one of those people who thought "we're recruiting HIM? he's so ordinary for the peptides!" and then he was of course banned for his first year with us

a journo friend of mine said "there's a long game at play here" which as it turns out was getting pig the year after; best mates who wanted to play together

when he first played for us i thought he was super ordinary - in and out of the senior side, no good as a half back, no good as a wing...but the day that he played as a defensive forward on jason johanissen i thought "there's something to work with here" and then he has become, quite honestly, one of my favourite ever recruits from another club

it was such a shame that he lost form in 2021 and missed the premiership, and i maintain that his acl in the game against the swans hurt us significantly before finals as he was in ripping form at the time

i love that he's a breeder and you just KNOW his kids are gonna be footy players and they will 100% be representing red and blue if they are good enough

my expectation is that when he retires - which, quite frankly, could be three seasons from now so good is his form - he'll go straight into coaching and i think he's going to be a ripper; a good person who has an incredible football brain and a fantastic communicator

MY MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD

Love Melk. We have nobody else like him.

Always lowers the eyes. Elite kick, mark and creativity.

A defensive forward who holds his own and with continued good health, will terrorise opponents deep into September, hopefully.

1 hour ago, Davos said:

I remember Essendon supporting friends laughing at us picking him up back in 2015. They though Pig was a great get (he was), but also thought giving Melk a 4 year deal was absurd.

Both acquisitions worked out for us in the end.

We should have given him a 10 year deal!

Meanwhile, Essendon are no better than 2015. 👏 Gotta love it.

3 hours ago, At Least I Saw a Flag said:

His contested mark v Brisbane in that remarkable comeback win at the G was incredible. 2022 or 2023?

And his goal from it.

I reckon he is just about our most clutch player. Here are some games/moments where has stood up and has allowed us win important matches:

-Round 22 2018: Kicks 4 goals and gets 20 touches, helping us break our 12 year finals drought.

-2018 semi final: Kicks a goal from outside 50 in the last quarter, putting a massive halt to the momentum which Hawthorn had been gaining. The crowd went absolutely insane after that goal.

-Round 22 2022: Kicks 4 goals to help us win a total scrapfest against Carlton, who at the time were playing for their season. That game was mostly known for Pickett's goal right before the siren but Melksham was the definitely the main catalyst.

Round 18 2023: Kicks a goal right before the siren to give us a 1 point win over Brisbane, who happened to be 5 goals ahead 10 minutes beforehand. We probably wouldn't have made top 4 if it wasn't for his performance that night.

Round 10 2025: Kicks 4 goals straight to help us win another close game against the Lions. We wouldn't have won that match without his accuracy given how wayward our goalkicking was, especially in the final quarter.

I just can't be convinced that his injury late in 2023 didn't cost us a preliminary finals spot at minimum. He's the perfect player to have in close matches.

Love the bloke. End thread.

Value for money he is one of the best trades the club has pulled off.

Happy to be in oppo's face, too, I've noticed in recent weeks. Nice for our nice team to have a bit of not nice!

1 hour ago, Hopeful Demon said:

Round 22 2022: Kicks 4 goals to help us win a total scrapfest against Carlton, who at the time were playing for their season. That game was mostly known for Pickett's goal right before the siren but Melksham was the definitely the main catalyst.

...having received the heavily contested pill from Jake!