MELBOURNE co-captain Nathan Jones has revealed he ignored offers to join stronger clubs in premiership contention while the Demons were mired at the bottom of the ladder.

Jones said the lure of helping the Demons climb back to respectability and consistently playing winning football – and the possibility of a premiership with the club that drafted him – saw him shut the door on opposition teams seeking his services.

"I could have left ages ago, probably picked a better team and potentially been part of a flag somewhere else," Jones said in the first episode of The Chase video series.

"But when you've invested so much of your life, physically and emotionally, why jump ship and bail out at the hardest point in time?"

The 29-year-old is sidelined with a quad injury but due back in about a month. The midfielder had been enjoying a strong season before suffering the injury against the Western Bulldogs last week, with keen Melbourne observers suggesting he would have been in calculations for a top-three finish in the club best and fairest award.  

Jones has played 235 matches for the Demons, but his only taste of finals came in his debut season (2006, aged 18), when Melbourne beat St Kilda in an elimination final before losing to Fremantle in Perth.

At the time, Jones believed success would simply follow his bright introduction to the AFL.

"I played my first final in my seventh game, against St Kilda, who I barracked for as a kid. We won that night at the MCG and I was like, 'This is unbelievable. How good is it? I've got my spot in the team and we're playing finals. This is great'," he said.

He certainly wasn’t expecting the bulk of his next decade in the game to be marked by losing.

Jones, a three-time best and fairest winner known for his straight-ahead, no-nonsense style, has played in just 65 wins since being drafted 12th overall at the 2005 NAB AFL Draft. In the 10 completed seasons since his first at AFL level, Jones has experienced only one – 2016 – when the Dees were victorious on at least 10 occasions. He is only four seasons removed from a disastrous 2-20 campaign, during which coach Mark Neeld was sacked and the club seemingly lurched from one crisis to another.

"I don’t reckon a game went by where we didn’t get belted by more than 10 goals. It was difficult to deal with that and to front up every week," said Jones, who grew up in Mt Eliza, a seaside town on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula.

"It got to the point where I was getting to a game and you’re almost conceding you’ve lost before the ball’s even bounced."

"The motivation has always been there to stay loyal and ride out the storm, because I feel the reward on the other side of that, having been through the things I’ve been through will, one, make me a better person and better player, (and) two, it would be far more rewarding than having been able to take an easier option (and) chase success somewhere else," he said.

Melbourne appointed Paul Roos as coach at the end of that dismal 2013 season and won a combined 11 matches in 2014 and '15 before starting to show significant development last year, finishing 11th with 10 wins.

Despite an inconsistent start to 2017, the Demons have won their past three matches playing attractive, tough footy and are in fifth spot on the ladder with a 7-5 record.

"We’re super-talented (and) we’re working on some of the behaviours required to become a consistently great team," Jones said.

"Fundamentally we’re definitely on the right track. I get excited thinking about when we play at our best because I genuinely feel we could beat anyone."

The Western Bulldogs' surprise Grand Final win last season has given Jones plenty of encouragement, despite it also leaving the Demons with the unwanted 'prize' of owning the AFL's longest premiership drought. Melbourne won its last flag in 1964.

"They (the Bulldogs) may not necessarily have been the best for the entire season but they improved the most over the season and got themselves an opportunity and won a flag," Jones said.

"I don’t think there’s any doubt that this group’s capable of winning a premiership. From what I’ve seen (this) is the most talented group of players I’ve seen assembled at our club.

"But in saying that, talent only gets you to a certain level and it’s in our hands."