Young defender Dane Rampe’s great start to his debut season has been rewarded, with the 23-year-old earning a two-year contract extension with the Sydney Swans.

After being elevated from the rookie list to the senior list ahead of the club’s round one clash with GWS, Rampe has played 11 games for the Swans and has settled into a regular position in the team’s back six.

Speaking to sydneyswans.com.au this week, the Sydney-born player said now felt at home at the Swans.

“I definitely feel like I belong out there and it’s got to a stage where I expect myself to be out there every game, and if I wasn’t I’d be letting myself down and I’d be letting the team down,” Rampe said.

“I feel like I’ve got the potential to play every game, whereas early on it was more about the novelty of being out there and just having a good time.

“I feel like I can just take a deep breath after what I’ve achieved in the first half of the year and just really attack the next part knowing that I’ve got another two years here and really knuckle down and become a serious part of the back six moving forward.

“I just want to repay the club’s faith as much as I can and I’m just really excited that I have a medium-term future here.”

Rampe will line up for his 12th senior match this weekend when the club travels south to face Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday, and following the Swans’ 22-point win over Carlton last week , the defender said the team could not afford to be complacent against a young Melbourne side.

“The good teams back up with consistent performances week in, week out, so I guess that’s our challenge,” he said.

“We probably will go down as favourites, but that’s the challenge we’ve got and it’s about how we attack it and how we approach the game.

“We had a good win against Adelaide three weeks ago and then we came back after the bye and just a five per cent slip of the mind cost us against Port Adelaide.

“It’s the same this week. We had a hard-fought win against Carlton and now we’re going down to Melbourne who are a young, developing team, but we still need to have the right mindset because the competition is too close to let anything slip.”