Ellwood will trial with Northern NSW NPL outfit Hamilton Olympic over the next two weeks for a chance to secure a spot in the final squad.

The 22-year-old defensive midfielder spent his junior days at Boomers, before crossing to Murray United for its first Victorian NPL 2 season in 2015.

Ellwood fell out of love with the sport at the end of 2016 and stepped away, before linking with former Murray teammate and Melrose coach Kade Rixon midway through last year.

He quickly earned the respect of the players and supporters at Melrose Park and was a big reason behind the club’s charge to the cup semi-finals.

“I took some time away to pretty much reset and clear my head a bit,” Ellwood said.

“I played NPL here (with Murray United) and I wanted to have that same level somewhere else and get a different feel for it.

“I had the first half of last season off and then came back mid-season to enjoy it again and be happy playing out there.

“I’m ready to get back into a higher level.

“If I don’t get that club, I’ll try another club in the NPL because I’m really keen to play in that league.”

But he knows leaving Melrose won’t be easy.

“I’ll miss the culture of the club and the people,” he said.

“Everyone was so welcoming and respectful when I got here.”

Rixon believes Ellwood will be near impossible to replace.

“As a teammate you hope he goes there and hates it and comes back, but, as a mate, I hope he has a ball and gets back to really enjoying it,” Rixon said.

“I tried talking to him pre-season last year (about playing at Melrose) and it was a straight no, he’d lost a bit of interest.

“I thought once we got him here, he would enjoy it again and he’s part of the furniture now.

“You wouldn’t realise he’s only been here half a year, all the supporters love him, the playing group love him, so he’s definitely a loss we can’t replace at the moment.”

Despite luring his brother, Trent, back to the club this season, Rixon admits it will bit somewhat of a different year for the club.

“To be fair, I don’t think we’re going to be as good on paper every week as we were last year,” he said.

“We were pretty set for the last eight or nine weeks, but this year we’re going to need 16 or 17 blokes to learn what we want to do and how we want to go about it.

“There’s going to be a lot of chances for the younger boys, there’s a couple of 16-year-olds at the club that are pushing to start round one (against Cobram).”