THE DIFFERENCE for Max Gawn and the Demons is obvious.

After a 57-year wait for Melbourne's next premiership ended last year, Gawn already knows his Demons have a new benchmark like never before: anything other than a second flag in 2022 will be viewed as a missed chance.

"Dealing with expectation is going to be this new thing that we've got this year," Gawn said on Wednesday.

"If we don't win this year it's almost seen as a fail. I daresay it probably is, because we are the current champions so we have expectation to win every game, we have expectation to perform, we have expectation to get to the pointy end of the season. Dealing with that is going to be the most fun part. I can't wait, I've never had to deal with it.

"We've been a side that gets the 1.10pm Sunday slot and now all of a sudden we've got the season-opener which is really exciting."

That season-opener comes with its own bunch of storylines as a Grand Final rematch against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG next Wednesday night.

The Demons have been the toast of their city since their barnstorming second half trouncing of the Bulldogs, and Gawn senses the change of view about his club. It is one he hopes remains well into the future, with the five-time Therabody AFL All-Australian ruckman cognisant of Melbourne's past as he looks ahead.

"There's so many teams that have gone back-to-back in the modern era. We've been blessed with some great sides, but there's so many teams that have been one-offs as well," he said.

"We'd love to be at the pointy end for as long as possible and if that's like the teams we've all talked about in the past like Brisbane, Geelong, Richmond and [so on], that's crazy. We'd also just love not to go down to the Melbourne of the 1970s, we'd love to be relevant for as long as we can.

"I'd love to be sitting in the stands when I'm 60 and Melbourne are still a top-eight side with a strong membership base and nobody is talking about a merger with Hawthorn and it's a good club to be at."

As reigning premiership captain, Gawn led out the group of 10 Victorian skippers at Wednesday's captains day at Marvel Stadium holding the premiership cup. But he said he needed to lead his side into a new season, referencing last week's pre-season loss to Carlton as evidence the game moves quickly.

"It's March, it's last year's news and if I think I'm No.1 at the moment then I'm going to fall, and quick. Everything has reset," he said.

"It was a really hot game between us and Carlton and Carlton didn't play finals last year. We didn't play finals in 2020 so it's a really even competition. I'm excited, seven days away from potentially 80-90,000 at the MCG."