MELBOURNE midfield star Bernie Vince believes the Demons' surprise 37-point win over Collingwood is the kind that the success-starved club can build upon.
But given Melbourne's inability to win successive games over the past four years, Vince was quick to emphasise the need to quickly focus on the next challenge: North Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday afternoon.
"We've got a lot of improvement left in us," Vince told AFL.com.au post-match.
"We'd been really disappointing over the (previous) three or four weeks, but we showed today what we can do when everyone's on the same page.
"You can really build on days like this. The big picture is looking a lot better.
"We've got some really good young guys coming through who are getting some good game time and who will develop into really good players once they get another couple of pre-seasons into them.
"Angus Brayshaw stands out the most to me. He's so strong in the contest for a first-year player and does everything right.
"But it's the old story – we know only too well that if you don't take it week to week, we can be really inconsistent."
Vince led the Demon charge with a best-afield performance, spending most of the afternoon opposed to Collingwood's champion captain Scott Pendlebury.
In a fascinating head-to-head duel, Vince took the honours with 30 possessions (eight contested), four clearances, 3.1 and two score assists, while Pendlebury had 24 possessions (13 contested), six clearances, seven tackles and a goal.
"I don't really tag – I just try to make the good midfielders defend," Vince said. "Sometimes I got out, but I didn't play on (Pendlebury) the whole time because he went forward a fair bit. But it is satisfying to perform your role.
"It was a real team effort, and we knew that if we didn't do that we wouldn't have won. Everyone put up their hand and carried the rope, and it makes it a lot easier, especially for blokes like me who've got jobs on good players."
In his past eight outings, Vince has averaged 31 possessions (13 contested), six clearances and a goal.
He earned praise from Demons coach Paul Roos.
"His form this year has been really, really good," Roos said of Vince.
"He just continues to play on opposition good players every single week and impact the contest (and) keep them relatively quiet.
"'Pendles' still had a good game but Bernie's (performance) was really critical in the outcome of the game. He's certainly been in a terrific vein of form for the best part of three months now."
Melbourne lost the clearances 40-33, including 15-6 in centre clearances, against arguably the best group of midfielders Collingwood has fielded all season. The Demons also trailed in the inside 50 count 58-44, but Vince saw positives in both areas.
"We actually got our first hand on the ball at a lot of centre bounces but we just coughed it up a bit, so we just need to be a bit cleaner to turn that around," he said.
"And their entries were really pressured and that was because of the work of the midfield and the forwards pushing up.
"Every area affects every other area – if forwards don't push up, mids can't push back and help the defenders. And because we had that working, when we entered we had a bit more time and space to use it better."
