Melbourne need not look any further than Jacob Van Rooyen as they continue to search for a key forward.
That is the opinion of Kane Cornes who loved what he saw from the 20-year-old in the Demons’ practice match against Richmond on Sunday.
Van Rooyen competed well, took some nice marks and kicked a goal in his side’s match sim loss to the Tigers, picking up where he left off after an impressive 2023 season.
The 2021 draftee (Pick 19) out of Claremont had to wait until last year to debut at senior level but made an immediate impact and went on to kick 28 goals and average three marks from 20 matches.
The Dees have some woes inside forward 50 given that Tom McDonald (calf), Harrison Petty (toe) and Ben Brown (knee) are currently sidelined with injury but Cornes is not perturbed by that as he feels Van Rooyen is the answer.
“Every time I see Van Rooyen play, he impresses me,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“I don't know if we've made enough of him. I know the crowd (loves him), the big ‘Roooooooo’, and we love watching him.
“He's not even 21 and every time I see him play I’m like, ‘you are everything I want for my team's key forward’. He’s aggressive, he leads to the logos, he crashes packs, he's a bit rough around the edges and there's a couple of things that he would need to tidy up in his game, but he's not even 21.
“He's played one season. So the sky's the absolute limit for this young man.”
Melbourne has had McDonald and Brown (and of course Bayley Fritsch) return 30-plus goal seasons in red and blue in recent seasons, but Cornes thinks Van Rooyen is the player they haven’t had since the Jesse Hogan days.
He also feels the Demons should have traded Petty to Adelaide late last year due to Van Rooyen’s presence.
“I just think Melbourne would have been searching for that player for so long. You've found it, don't worry about it, don't go searching, you've found it now,” he added.
“I think they should have traded Petty and absolutely loaded up. He will never be worth more to them than what he was in trade period last year.
“I don't know if he (Petty) is a forward, but Van Rooyen is and I just love watching him play.”
Van Rooyen and the Demons will look to bounce back when they’re next in action against Carlton in the AAMI Community Series at Ikon Park on February 28.
They kick off the 2024 season proper in Opening Round against Sydney at the SCG on March 7.
