It is not uncommon to see a young person with their head buried in a mobile phone. When Neville Jetta does it, however, the difference is his phone is typically face down - so he can see the photos of his two children on a "We [heart] you" sticker made by his wife for whenever he is absent, which generally is because of his largely unheralded role in Melbourne's defence.

That Jetta will be playing in Melbourne's rare Friday-night appearance this week, let alone as a key part of the team, would have seemed fanciful if it was speculated back in 2013. He was out of contract, had not been selected after round nine and was part of a club that sacked its coach and was yet to appoint a replacement who, given the club had only won two matches for the year, would likely have been eager for a playing-list overhaul.

Jetta's quelling of Luke Dahlhaus in that final match of 2013 was enough to persuade Paul Roos, watching before his appointment as coach, to give him the last spot on the list, as a rookie. Even though form and injury prevented the 25-year-old from cementing his position in his first five years, he has gone a long way to doing that in the past year and a bit.

"I'd almost given up on my career. The emotional side, the mental side, took its toll, with the club saying they didn't know what to do with me," Jetta recalled of late 2013. "I was weighing up life outside footy: plan B, plan C."

Those plans involved expanding on his work at the Punt Road Oval-based Korin Gamadji Institute, as a mentor to young Indigenous people identified as budding leaders. Even though he still works at the institute - it is part of his plan to be a more capable community leader by the end of his career - plan B and plan C are now stuffed well back in his filing cabinet thanks to his on-field exploits.

"I think Neville hasn't been beaten too often," opined Melbourne back-line coach Jade Rawlings about the half-back flanker. "I find him a really unique player ... on a straight line he's probably not in your top-five quickest players, but in close he's as quick as anyone. He's got really quick feet and he's very agile and able to get himself out of tight situations and also defend really well in tight situations."

Rawlings said quality small defenders were, with the recent exception of Sydney's Nick Smith, habitually underrated.

"As much as people love the big power forwards they also love watching [Hayden] Ballantyne and [Michael] Walters, they love watching Eddie Betts, our supporters love watching Jeff Garlett, they love [Paul] Puopolo and Cyril Rioli - the point being there's a lot of small forwards who capture a lot of attention and influence games. To have defenders who can play on those guys, it requires a lot of high-level concentration and they to be physically capable of playing on them ... I think the recognition of the role is increasing."

Arguably Jetta's most significant achievement in his early years at the Demons came away from the club: meeting his now-wife Samantha. Their union has produced three-year-old daughter Nalani and five-month-old son Kyree. Both, to the parents' delight, are conspicuously settled sleepers.

Jetta, whose cousins Leroy and Lewis have also reached the AFL, is one of five siblings. His father is one of 13 and his mother is one of nine. The combination meant he grew up in Western Australia "around a lot of people, at all hours of the day and night".

"Family was massive growing up and it's a value I still hold, and something I'm trying to instil into my children now," he said.

Rawlings said he considered Jetta to be "one of the most impressive individuals I've worked with in my coaching career". In addition to his determination and his humility, he admired Jetta's pride in his Indigenous heritage, which he has conveyed to his teammates.

"He's such a genuine person, he's shared some of his background and life and it's just captured the whole room. Because he's not a person who speaks often in front of the group, it also holds more power," Rawlings said.

"Neville is such a respectful person, he looked up to [Indigenous now-former teammates] Aaron [Davey] and Liam [Jurrah] ... but always felt he was in behind them. He's the senior statesman when it comes to Aboriginal players and he really relishes that. He looks after Jay Kennedy-Harris and has a good relationship with Jeff Garlett. I think he really likes that kind of seniority and he's handled it well."

Beyond playing and helping Melbourne be successful, Jetta said he was fiercely motivated to "improve myself, so when I do go back to Western Australia, I can help my community and my family ... more than when I left".