Matthew Bate Biography

Melbourne forward Matthew Bate is hoping to resurrect his career at the Western Bulldogs after being granted permission to train with them along with former Fremantle defender Nick Lower.

Discarded Demon Matthew Bate says he can have an impact at a new club, placing leadership high on his list of attributes.

"The last two years have been pretty tough, on-field wise, for both me and Melbourne. That was a time where I put a lot of effort into developing leadership skills and realising with such a young group I could have a big influence over those guys," Bate said.

"I really pride myself on being able to show a lot of good character when things are tough for me and the team - whether it be around the club, helping guys one on one or setting training standards like helping set a really good culture."

Melbourne has added to its list of trade departures, cutting a swathe of players which include Matthew Bate, Ricky Petterd, Jamie Bennell, Lucas Cook, Liam Jurrah and rookies Jai Sheahan, Leigh Williams and Kelvin Lawrence.

Matthew Bate is reported to have contemplated leaving the Demons at the end of 2011 but was convinced by new coach Mark Neeld to stay.

"You learn to put everything in perspective and I felt like I did mature as a person and a player last year," he said.

"I am hoping I can take lessons I learnt from last year into this year and apply them well."

The playing future of Melbourne forward Russell Robertson remains unclear beyond this year.

"Robbo is an interesting one. His form was OK in the last couple of weeks and all of a sudden you see some opportunities being given to Petterd, Jurrah and Matthew Bate has been reasonably consistent," Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said.

"At the end of the year, we'll sit down and discuss our list management and I'm sure there'll be lots of players discussed and he'll be one of them."

Melbourne forward Matthew Bate says the loss to Essendon hurt more than any other this season.

"It was a big stage and everyone's watching and everyone rates us on that," he said.

"People aren't going to rate us on that, it's that simple.

"The one thing that cuts me deep is that you feel like you're letting the coaches down.

"They give everything, and tell us how to play and provide the game plan; it's just the players who aren't applying themselves 100 per cent of the time."

Matthew Bate is Melbourne's heir apparent at full-forward in the shadow of Demon great, David Neitz.