Melbourne are backing “generational talent” Luke Jackson to handle the pressure and hype that will be on him during Friday night’s crucial clash against Fremantle at Optus Stadium, as questions linger around where he will play beyond this season.

Jackson flew into Perth on Thursday to prepare for the clash, knowing that both Fremantle and Melbourne are desperate to sign him to lucrative contracts.

The 20-year-old’s signature became an even bigger focus when Demons star Angus Brayshaw signed a six-year deal on Thursday, following in the footsteps of premiership teammates Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in committing to the club for the long term.

All eyes will be on Jackson on Friday night but assistant coach Greg Stafford was confident he had the personality to handle the attention.

“He’s a pretty unique character,” Stafford said.

“I would worry for most young people around that aspect because it is quite significant. But for some reason, I don’t think it’s going to worry him too much. I might be wrong but I’d say he’ll do it fairly relaxed and go about it in his own unique way.”

Both teams made key changes for the match. Fremantle lost Nat Fyfe to a hamstring injury and dropped Bailey Banfield. Rory Lobb returned from injury and Travis Colyer came into the 22 after being the medical sub.

The Demons couldn’t consider James Harmes (concussion) and dropped Adam Tomlinson. Jake Lever and Jayden Hunt returned to the team.

Jackson and Max Gawn’s contest with Sean Darcy and Lobb will play a key role in giving their midfielders the ascendancy.

“As an old ruckman, I love to see how relevant the modern ruckman is to the game,” Stafford said.

“Sean, through years of hard work is establishing himself in the conversation in and around the best ruckmen in the game. We’re pretty happy with a couple of blokes we’ve got too. It’s a mouth watering contest.”

The Demons held their captain’s run at the WACA Ground after being unable to train at Optus Stadium as the venue continued to work on improving the surface following three sporting events in the wet last week.

Stafford said Melbourne would have preferred to train at the ground, but had enough experience to adjust after last year’s finals series in Perth.

“It is disappointing but we’re happy to play there tomorrow and have our run at the WACA today,” he said.

“These things are very marginal. Yes it’s good to train on the ground you play on, but is it critical? No. We spent a lot of time here at the back end of last year. We’ve had lots of games here. We’ve enjoyed some success so we’re very familiar with the place. We love it. We love playing here. We love the people here.”