THE DEMONS have suffered just one loss this season.

This one loss just happened to be at the hands of the team that they’re set to face in this weekend’s NAB AFLW Grand Final – the Brisbane Lions.

This defeat marked a turning point for Melbourne, senior coach Mick Stinear explaining that the group is now a more developed and connected group in comparison to the group that endured the Round 4 loss.  

“It’s been not so much our method that has changed, but what we were valuing and what we were putting our attention to when the ball turned over,” Stinear told the Credit To The Girls Podcast.

“Simple things like being first to move, quick decisions to react and taking away dangerous space, rather than going to the nearest player and hoping for the best.

“We haven’t changed our method, but we’ve definitely sharpened up the speed at which we’re trying to defend and what we’re valuing.

“The depth through our midfield has grown since then, and the depth in our wings, with Blaithin Mackin, Sarah Lampard and Casey Sherriff shouldering a lot of that workload.

“So, we feel like we’ve got strong in that part of the ground.”

While on-field improvement is always key within an elite athletic group, Stinear says the team's consistency towards the backend of the season actually came down to the relationships and connections between the players and staff. 

This is something that the team has coined as “Demon Spirit” and is what's driving them towards the ultimate success this Sunday. 

“The overall thing for us since earlier in the season has been our performance as a team and our mindset as a group," Stinear said. 

“Not getting caught up in the little things, not trying to be perfect, not playing for ourselves.

“But instead, consistently playing for each other, trying to make our teammates better and enjoying the fact we get to play footy, it’s a bit of a gift.

“We felt like our shortcomings were our abilities to connect and play as a team and you can do that in season at times but when the pressure increases, that’s where you truly find out your level of connection.

“It has been a strength of ours, but we’ve tried to elevate that to another level and then leverage that in a performance sense.

“This season, we’ve seen far more consistency in the back end of the year with how we’re functioning as a unit and the energy and spirit which the team is playing with.

“We’re confident that is going to hold up on grand final day under the ultimate pressure.”