WHEN Melbourne veteran Jordan Lewis runs out onto the MCG on Friday night, he will do so with as many premiership medals as his teammates have total finals appearances.

One of only four Demons set to play this weekend who have featured in September, Lewis knows what it takes to win on the big stage. And according to him, it's not finals experience.

Nathan Jones is the only player on Melbourne's list to have represented the club in a final, doing so twice back in 2006. Ex-Essendon pair Michael Hibberd and Jake Melksham are the others with a finals appearance under their belts, playing in one each. Lewis has 23.

But when he thinks back 10 years to the first time he became a premiership player, he and his Hawks teammates did so with little knowledge of what it took to win when it matters.

While that youthfulness is one of few comparisons he sees between Melbourne's current group and Hawthorn's of a decade ago, he does believe it's an important one.

"The only similarity I can draw on is the inexperience of the playing group," Lewis said.

"That didn't hold us back in 2008 and I don't see why it should hold us back this time.

"I think experience is good in finals, but I don't think it's a necessity. At the end of the day, we've had 23 rounds to get ourselves in a really good position, like we have.

"Nothing really changes. The intensity goes up, but that's the way that we've played our last two games. If we can follow on from that, I think we'll be in a really good position."

Melbourne went through the lowest period in the club's history between finals appearances, with 12 years of heartache eventually put to bed when the Dees sealed their top-eight spot with a round 22 victory over the Eagles.

The crucial road win was met with a combination of joy and relief – and it was followed by a performance that was equally as impressive a week later against the Giants.

According to Lewis, those results have given the group an indication of what it will take when Friday night's clash against Geelong eventually rolls around.

"The emotion has been removed in a sense now that we're there," Lewis said.

"There was a lot of emotion around the West Coast game, but that's gone away now. It's all about what we can do now to put ourselves in a position to win finals. From what I can tell, we haven't felt the pressure.

"I remember back to when I started playing finals, it's just exciting to be around. I think we've got a group that really relishes that opportunity."

Therefore, Lewis' advice for his younger teammates is simple.

"It's always hard," he said.

"Trying to think back to when I embarked on my first finals experience, I remember looking around and trying to pick up things that were different. You couldn't really come up with anything.

"Training sessions are maybe a little bit different because there are more people around, but other than that the things that are inside the club don't really change.

"It's probably 'don't search for stuff that's not there, just go about your week as you normally would'.

"When you get to the game, there's a different feel. There are big crowds and there's more intensity within the game, but other than that it's a normal week.

"As a player, you need to keep yourself pretty neutral."