MARK Jamar says he is confident that he can form a strong partnership with emerging ruckman Max Gawn.

The Demons played the duo for the second successive week, after Gawn was promoted to the AFL after he missed last year with a knee injury, and his early part of 2013 was interrupted by a hamstring injury.

Last week, Jamar and Gawn combined for three goals and shared the ruck duties, and that was again the case against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday. Jamar booted a goal, and Gawn kicked two majors.

“I think me and Max are working well together,” Jamar told melbournefc.com.au.

“We’re sharing the workload a bit, which is good. It gives us both a chance to go forward and be a target and create a contest, and bring the ball down for the boys, front and centre.

“We get to share the ruck duties a bit more, which is good.”

Jamar said the loss was a frustrating one, given the Demons were right in the mix at half time, trailing by just six points.

“I don’t think the change of venue worried us. I don’t think that fazed us at all. In the past, we’ve played well at the Gabba,” he said.

“But the start of that third term hurt us. They scored a few quick goals in a row - it caught us off guard and we need to come out after half time and not let that happen.

“It’s hard to win coming back from that, so we need to make sure we can stem that flow in the future.”