He’s been training as a defender, but it was in attack where Jackson Merrett flourished on the weekend.

The 24 year old kicked five goals in the final VFL practice match against Richmond.

Merrett had been working with the defensive group throughout the last few months, but was shifted forward against the Tigers.

“It (training both back and forward) gives me a bit more flexibility,” Merrett said.

“It was my first game back in the forward line this week and I was lucky enough to get on the end of a few.”

The Bombers won by 73 points in their final tune-up before the home and away season gets underway.

Merrett said the consistency of the performance was one of the most pleasing aspects.

“The previous two games we’ve played have fluctuated in form. We would have one or two bad quarters and two really good quarters, but today I thought it was a consistent four quarter effort, which was really good,” he said.

“We were good around the contest and our pressure to lead up forward resulted on the scoreboard.

“We had 23 consistent performers so it’s not really anyone dominating week to week, but rather everyone getting their role done. We are getting results because of that."

The Bombers will take on Sandringham in the VFL Round one clash on Saturday at Trevor Barker Oval.

The last time the two sides met was in Round 10 last year when Sandringham came over the top of Essendon to win by 28-points.

“In previous years they’ve been a pretty good side, so we're expecting a pretty tough contest next week, hopefully we can get over the line,” Merrett said.