For several weeks Cam Delaney has been hoping for good news and on Wednesday he received the best kind.

“I popped upstairs yesterday to have a quick chat with Brad (Scott) and he let me know then that I was going to be playing,” Delaney told NMFC.com.au.

Delaney had been in great form for North Ballarat since his return from injury and it was recognised by the match committee.

“He (Scott) said that my last few weeks in the VFL I’d had some good form. The opportunity had presented itself and I’d forced my way into the side by playing good footy and it was time for me to come into the side and keep playing exactly how I had been (for North Ballarat).”

A senior game must have appeared a long way off when the defender missed a month of football early in 2013 with various ailments.

However Delaney overcame those and can’t wait for his first match of the season on Saturday.

“I’m pretty excited for the game. It’s been a long year for me with the dodgy start. I had a couple of niggles and injuries that I had to work back from. I got a bit of fitness and worked my way back so I’m pretty happy to be at a level that I’d like to stay at.

“I knew it was going to be a thing I was going to have to manage and it would take a bit of time to get right before I would play some good footy. It’s definitely come a long way so I can’t complain.”

A feature of Delaney’s play for the Roosters has been his ability to play tall or small.

Melbourne’s forward line features a dangerous mixture of both types.  On one hand there are the likes of Jack Watts, Chris Dawes and Jack Fitzpatrick.

But given Delaney is replacing Scott McMahon in the defensive six, he could also be asked to play on a small like Shannon Byrnes.

At the moment though, his role is up in the air.

“I haven’t gone over too much with who I’ll be playing on and my role just as yet. We’ll go over that more on Friday.

“I’ve been playing on talls in the VFL so I think I’ll probably be something similar. I can play on smalls if I have to.”