Former Eagle Jai Culley will make his Melbourne debut - and chase his first-ever AFL win - against the club that axed him at the end of last season.

Culley will play for the Demons having been picked up in the pre-season supplemental selection period this year after training with the club over the summer.

He played 12 games for the Eagles after he was taken with the No.1 pick in the 2022 mid-season rookie draft, but was delisted at the end of last season.

The 22-year-old was set to play for Melbourne’s VFL affiliate Casey this year and trained with Melbourne over the summer before being picked up by the AFL side after Andy Moniz-Wakefield was moved to the inactive list with an ACL injury.

“Jai has been super impressive and shown enough to suggest he thoroughly deserves a spot on our AFL list. He is still young at 22 years of age, and we feel he has a lot of growth in all areas of his game,” Demons list boss Tim Lamb said at the time.

Culley played four games in 2022 and then five in 2023, earning a rising star nomination after he kicked four goals against Port Adelaide in round six of 2023.

Culley ruptured his ACL two games later against Richmond at the MCG ending his season before making his comeback against North Melbourne in round 13 of last year — the first of three games for the Eagles that season.

He was then delisted with his last game coming in the round 20 western derby defeat to the Dockers when he had seven touches and five tackles as the sub.

In West Coast history, only 21-gamer Greg Clark played more Eagles matches than Culley without tasting victory.