Jake Lever believes teammate Michael Hibberd is one of the keys to the side’s defence, given his flexibility.
Hibberd overcame a calf complaint suffered during the pre-season and numerous setbacks to play the last two games for the Demons.
The 32-year-old was particularly impressive against Brisbane, holding gun small forward Charlie Cameron goalless as Melbourne snapped a three-game losing streak with a 64-point win.
It was the first time Cameron had no scoreboard impact in a game this year.
Hibberd is six centimetres taller than Cameron and almost 20 kilograms heavier, and AFL great Leigh Matthews believes he is “underrated”.
“It seems to be that the flexibility of Michael Hibberd, he kind of is that middle third or fourth tall, he can play that different role,” Matthews told Lever on Sportsday.
“He seems underrated to me.”
Lever responded: “We absolutely love him internally. Hibbo (Hibberd) gives us that flexibility.
“I think you probably would have seen on Thursday night, he plays on Charlie Cameron and then if one of our talls was off and they had three talls (on), he was able to just roll over and play on a tall as well.
“He just gives us that flexibility, and it speaks to the way he’s been able to attack his footy.”
Hibberd, 32, missed the start of last year with an ankle injury but has played at least 14 games in every season since joining the Dees.
Despite his age, his pre-season was described as “phenomenal” by Lever.
“For two or three years you’d think, ‘oh, maybe this might be Hibbo's last year or how long does he have left’, but to his credit, this pre-season was absolutely phenomenal, he was the best backman by a mile,” Lever added.
“He unfortunately hurt his calf, but for him to be able to come in, I think it was three or four weeks ago, and play the way that he has played, it’s been a great asset for us and allows different people to play their role and execute it really well.”
Melbourne and Hibberd got their season back on track with last week’s win over the Lions and will search for back-to-back wins against Adelaide in Round 16.