Dees plot Brayshaw's safest return

Melbourne is set to keep Angus Brayshaw out of the midfield as it plots the playmaker's safest return to football.

The 21-year-old is expected to make his return in the VFL this weekend after missing the past two weeks with concussion. It was the young stars third concussion in the past 12 months and came soon after revealing he'd spent two weeks in a dark room battling after-affects of a heavy concussion last year.

“We may look at playing him forward or back and a little bit less in the midfield so that his confidence returns,” Demons assistant coach Brendan McCartney said.

“Lots of his knocks have been related to hits around the ball and the contest area, which is his greatest strength. He’ll be fine long term but we might just change up his role a little to ensure he gets eased back in.”

After his latest bout of concussion, fears were raised about the gifted ball winner’s playing future, but the club moved quickly to hose down speculation.

McCartney said the Demons’ had gone over and above to ensure Brayshaw returned to football fit in mind and body.

“We took an extra week of precaution for him to be fair to the young fella,” he said.

“He’s a really important player and we’re confident what he’ll be long term so we put him through even more tests than normal just to give him piece of mind that he had recovered.”

Drafted with the No.3 selection at the 2014 draft, the former Sandringham Dragon has played 33 games – including the opening two of this season – before being dropped to the VFL.

He played 10 games last year but missed significant time with concussion mid-season before returning to the senior side to play the final seven matches.