Background
Salem was born to Alex and Mary Salem, and is of Lebanese descent with his father being born in Lebanon.
Salem was born to Alex and Mary Salem, and is of Lebanese descent with his father being born in Lebanon.
He attended Brighton Grammar and played with the Robert Shaw coached first XVIIIs side from year nine, generally playing against year twelves.
His talent was recognised from a young age and he received state selection in the under-12 Victorian side. Salem played his junior career with the Hampton Rovers Football Club and played for the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup in both 2012 and 2013. He was selected to play for Victoria Metro in the 2012 American Federation of Labor-Congress Under 18 Championships as a bottom-aged player and played in the winning final, kicking two goals.
He received a scholarship through the AIS-American Federation of Labor-Congress Academy as part of the their level two squad in the 2012 intake, and travelled to Europe for two weeks in 2013.
He received mid-year state honours for the second consecutive year and played for Victoria Metro in the 2013 American Federation of Labor-Congress Under 18 Championships. Salem was rated highly heading into the 2013 American Federation of Labor-Congress draft and was predicted to be drafted inside the top-10 due to his decision making and kicking precision, in addition he drew comparisons to Luke Hodge, Nick Dal Santo and Daniel Hannebery.
Salem was recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with their first selection and ninth overall in the 2013 national draft. After strong performances in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for Melbourne"s affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions, including a 32-possession game in the week before his first American Federation of Labor-Congress match, he made his debut in round six against Sydney at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
In his seventh match, Salem was pivotal in Melbourne"s comeback victory against Essendon in round 13, after marking 30 metres directly in front of goal, he kicked the winning goal with nineteen seconds left of the match, giving Melbourne a one-point lead.
He finished his debut season with twelve matches and was labelled by a senior Herald Sun football writer, Jay Clark, as potentially one of Melbourne"s best players. After playing his debut season in the forward line and a majority of matches as the substitute, Salem changed positions in 2015 and played predominantly in the half-back line. After playing the first seven matches of the season, he injured his hamstring in the round seven loss to Hawthorn and was initially ruled out for a month, however, after injuring his other hamstring, he ultimately missed two months and returned to play in the VFL in round 16, before returning to the senior side in round 21.
He played the remainder of the season and finished with ten matches overall.
