Charlie Spargo’s debut season at Melbourne was beyond his wildest expectations.
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The Albury product managed 18 games as a small forward – retaining his place in the side all the way to the Demons’ preliminary final loss to eventual premiers West Coast.
“I honestly didn’t expect any of that to happen last year, it really was a whirlwind,” Spargo said.
“I had a great year and it’s what I’ll look to do again.
“I want to hopefully play each week, play some consistent footy and play my role.
“We’ve got a really big focus on team-first this year and coming in and playing your role.
“That’s one thing that can really take us to the next level.”
He believes the group has what it takes to go one step further in 2019.
“It’s pretty hard to take something specific from it (the preliminary final loss), because it was such a bad day,” Spargo said.
“It will always burn knowing you were so close, but you fell one step short.
“Throughout the pre-season, all the boys have been thinking about how close we were, which means we’re not that far off it.
“We’ve been training very hard because we’re confident in ourselves and we know we have what it takes to make a grand final and win the flag.”
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Spargo admitted his role as a small forward is simple, but important.
“The four keys things for me are to chase, run, compete and set up into the team’s structure,” he said.
“I like try to keep my role as simple as possible and that's when I feel I play at my best.
“We’ve got a lot of experienced players, especially the small forwards like Jeff Garlett and Alex Neal-Bullen.
“I spend a lot of time playing forward with them and they’re really open to helping the young small forwards improve.”
Spargo made the trip back home with teammates on Thursday, visiting the hospital and schools as part of Melbourne’s community camp on the Border.
“You don’t realise how much of an influence you have on younger kids until you’ve got that AFL platform to go from,” he added.
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