Melbourne defender Christian Salem says the entire team will get a confidence boost from seeing a “fresh” Steven May out on the field for Saturday’s grand final against the Western Bulldogs.

May was in some doubt for the Optus Stadium decider after injuring his hamstring in the preliminary-final demolition of Geelong.

But the 29-year-old trained strongly earlier this week to prove his fitness and was named in the grand-final side on Thursday night.

May looked relaxed and happy while taking part in Melbourne’s open training session at Optus Stadium on Friday, and Salem said the All-Australian’s presence was a huge boost to the side.

“He’s sweet,” Salem said. 

“He did a full session this week and I guess that week off helped him.

“You’ve seen all year how critical he is to us, not only to our backline but the whole team in general with the leadership he brings.

“To have him out there on Saturday is great. It’s great for him as well to get his body going again. He’s fresh and ready to go.”

Melbourne are playing just their second finals series since 2006 and are aiming to end a 57-year flag drought.

Salem, who was drafted to the club at the end of 2013 in time for Paul Roos’ first season in charge, said the player group were well aware of the significance of Saturday’s match.

“You reflect on it, it’s hard not to,” he said. 

“It’s been a long journey for us. I got to the club in Roos’ first year, which was probably the start of the rebuild. 

“Being down the bottom for a few years there were a lot of hard times. But I knew we could get here eventually. 

“It was a bit of a long road but we’ve got to capitalise on it now. We’ve got to finish off the season and make our fans proud.

“We have belief in our system and how we want to play. But at the end of the day it’s a grand final and anything can happen.”

AAP

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