The Dees' VFL affiliate Casey Demons play their first practice match next Saturday against Northern Territory side Redtails, but Melbourne have indicated Watts won't play in that match.

Watts has been overlooked in both of Melbourne's JLT Community Series games to date, and while co-captain Nathan Jones backed Watts to return to the side, the club won't publicly guarantee that the out-of-favour forward would play in the Demons' final JLT match against West Coast in Perth on Thursday week.

Watts may only get his chance when Casey face Port Melbourne at Casey Fields on Sunday March 19, less than a week before Melbourne face St Kilda in round one.

"Hopefully we can see him - if not next week, he gets a chance the week before round one," Jones said of his long-time teammate.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said after his side's win over Carlton on Saturday that Watts was working hard to rectify his deficiencies, but hinted that the former No.1 draft pick needed to lift his intensity.

Jones - who has seen plenty of hard times in his 11 years at the Demons - said it was a sign of the club's improvement that Watts couldn't squeeze into the team. But he was optimistic that the forward would be back eventually.

"I've spoken to Jack and he's very clear on where it all sits, and to not have a player of Jack's calibre in our team, the way I look at it, we've got some really good depth," Jones said.

"Competition for spots, we've probably lacked over the years, and the fact we've got so many guys putting their hands up playing different roles is a really good thing for our footy club.

"Jack's really clear in terms of the direction he needs to go and there can only be upside for us. He's working really hard to get to the level that we're expecting and when he gets back we're going to be an even better team again.

"He's put a couple of solid weeks on the training track. He's taken responsibility and driving himself to a whole new level.

"The boys are right behind him and I'd be pretty confident that he's going to fight his way back in."

The Demons' exciting crop of youngsters were on show against the Blues. Christian Petracca excelled at half-forward with four goals, while Jesse Hogan, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Salem, Clayton Oliver and Jones' co-captain Jack Viney were all influential.

The emergence of Brayshaw, Viney and Oliver in particular, as well as the inside midfield depth gained in the acquisition of Jordan Lewis, mean Jones could spend more time in other positions.

"You really see the depth of our midfield, we're not too reliant on too few guys that play multiple positions, which makes us quite versatile.

"But ultimately it was creating experience for different players in different positions. I think that's exciting for us.

"I've spent heaps of time in the last couple of weeks out on the wing, half-back, half-forward.

"It's something that I've worked on, to add another dimension to my game, in particular bringing in those younger guys that started at half-forward. Gussy Brayshaw, Clayton [Oliver], Christian [Petracca], Christian Salem. Now they're starting to spend more bulk time in the middle, we've become more interchangeable, which is good for us."

Meanwhile Jones said that the transition to sharing the captaincy with Viney had been smooth. Viney was announced as co-captain earlier this month after two years of Jones holding the position by himself.

"Not much has changed really," Jones said.

"To have him there and help develop him as a leader, help develop myself as a leader, to have both of us rub off onto each other and onto the entire group.

"I'm really comfortable with that, I think it can only be of benefit for us."