IN 15 of Melbourne's 16 games this season, the club has entered the game with less games experience than its opposition.

It is a factor Melbourne coach Mark Neeld admits has been hugely relevant in the team's inability to compete as most would have expected in 2012.

Not that it excuses the team's recent inability to respond when the game is up for grabs or the concession of multiple unanswered goals in many games this season.

"We're a good couple of years away from most of the teams," Neeld said. "We're aware of that but again we're really pleased with some of the improvements we've made."

There are glimpses of improvement if you look hard. 

For instance, since the bye, the team has averaged 54 inside 50s to 49, compared to 41 inside 50s before the bye against 62.

When the distortion the Greater Western Sydney game created the week after the bye is taken out, it is still an improvement of 49 inside 50s on average compared to its opposition's 53.

"Our ball movement and our ability to defend quick play has improved dramatically," Neeld said.

That improvement will need to continue on Saturday afternoon at Etihad Stadium against North Melbourne (also a relatively inexperienced team in AFL terms), a team they have not beaten since 2006 and at a venue Melbourne last won at in round 19, 2007.

The consistent inexperience equation will hold with the Demons' collective games tally at 1577 compared to the Kangaroos' 1969 combined games.

The Demons will also once again be without the injured Jack Watts, who has now missed three weeks with an ankle injury, after originally being expected to miss just one.

"[It's] taken longer to heal than first thought," Neeld said. "He has a high grade ankle sprain and the medical staff are just saying that with the ankle sprain he has got it is a week by week thing."

Brent Moloney is back and Neeld said he should be able to tell at about 5pm on Saturday afternoon what impact being demoted had on the midfielder.

Moloney played one game for Casey Scorpions but was forced to miss last week as the VFL team had a bye.

"He's trained well and seems to have freshened up a little bit and hopefully Brent will be able to get out there and play with a whole lot of energy and be able to run around and get a kick," he said.

Moloney will be without his partner in crime, the injured Mark Jamar, at centre bounces.

However the Demons have been pleased with the competitive effort of Jake Spencer when replacing Jamar, and Moloney sharked Spencer's taps when playing VFL a fortnight ago.

"He (Spencer) came in and has been super-competitive and given us a bit of an advantage in the ruck," Neeld said.

"I'm really keen to give Jake as much time as possible [as it will] be a really good learning curve for him. We think he'll go all right against [Todd] Goldstein."

Spencer's form was the reason the match committee did not seriously contemplate rucking Stefan Martin solo, a role he played with aplomb in 2011.

So North Melbourne, the competition's form team awaits, their scoring prowess worrying everyone and presenting another challenge for the Demons.

"It will be a battle for the midfields," Neeld said. "Gee, they go when they win clearances. If we can win the ball first, that might stop them from going the other way. We'll see how we go."