FOLLOWING Friday night’s loss to the Swans, Melbourne will have to do it the hard way if it’s to achieve what it has set out to this September.

The Demons fell by 22 points at the MCG, but defender Jake Lever says his side hasn’t been discouraged.

“We’ll move on pretty quickly, but the equation doesn’t really change,” he told Melbourne Media post-game.

“Still have to win three games to get to where you want to get to, so we’ll have that mindset and move on.”

The Dees will be back on their home deck next week hosting Brisbane in a Semi-Final, which is where their focus has immediately turned.

“That’s why you get a double chance,” Lever said.

“We’re going to be a pretty driven group as we’ve been all year and I’m excited by the challenge.”

While the Qualifying Final outcome was disappointing for the red and blue, who led by as much as 12 points in the third term, the group has an opportunity to improve in the next seven days.

“We can’t dwell on it too much,” Lever said.

“I think it’s really important to take some of the learnings out of tonight – what we can do better.

“For us, the game that we wanted to play was there, it was just probably our execution of the basics at times, especially out of our back half.”

Across the four quarters, Melbourne was plus 25 in contested possessions and plus six for inside 50s, but ultimately, Sydney was better when it mattered most.

“They probably just did it for longer,” Lever said.

“We cost ourselves a little bit with some of the goals we gave them.

“A lot of their score was probably off us, our mistakes.”

The Demons will be looking to rectify that effort on the big stage next week.

“As much as we’re going to take a lot of learnings out of tonight, we’ll move on pretty quickly,” Lever said.

“We’ve got a big challenge in Brisbane who played some pretty good footy last night.

“We’re excited by that challenge.”