Regarded as a competitive and skilful rover with particularly accurate foot passing, Melrose was unlucky to miss out on North Melbourne's premierships due to injury, but experienced success with both East Fremantle and Swan Districts.
The team was experiencing little success at the time but with players such as Melrose, Brian Peake, Tony Buhagiar joining through the late 1960s and early 1970s and under the stewardship of coach John Todd, East Fremantle won the 1974 premiership.
Melrose moved East in 1975 to join Victorian Football League club North Melbourne where he settled into the regular lineup in the forward pocket and sharing roving duties with Barry Cable.
Melrose played out the 1979 VFL season before returning to Western Australia in 1980 where he joined the Swan Districts Football Club under his old mentor John Todd.
Swan Districts had a great season but lost the 1980 grand final to South Fremantle by 58 points and Melrose played on a half forward flank.