CO-CAPTAIN Nathan Jones says Melbourne must play at its absolute best to end its 17-game losing streak against North Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.

Speaking as he arrived at the ground, Jones said his team had as good a chance to end a 12-year losing streak against the Roos, which stretches back to round 20, 2006, when he played just his fourth AFL game.

“It’s a good chance for us to change that narrative, which Goody (Simon Goodwin) mentioned earlier this week,” Jones told Melbourne Media, as he lines up for his 242^nd AFL game.

“It’s not the sole focus, but the focus is to execute at our absolute best – and that’ll give us the best opportunity to.

“Deep down, for someone like me, who’s played in 16 of the 17 losses, I’m well aware of what the record is and [I’m] looking forward to hopefully turning that around today.”

Jones said Melbourne was a vastly different team to what it had been in the past decade and it was hard to compare with previous losses against the Roos.

“It’s funny, a lot of people outside of the club get tied-up in it, which is fair enough really, but in the end, it’s hard to make comparisons,” he said.

“We’re a very different side to what we were 12 months ago – let alone 10 years ago.

“The reasons why they continue to beat us – I don’t know – but I know what we’re capable of right now and at our best, we’re capable of beating anyone.

“If we bring that today, that’ll change what’s happened in the past.”