MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says he will make some minor tweaks to the team's pre-match preparation in a bid to arrest the recent trend of slow starts to games.

The Demons meet St Kilda on Sunday, and Bailey said his side's poor starts had to be addressed.

"We looked at a couple of main things in the warm-up. We'll probably trial some of that again," Bailey said on Friday.

"We don't want to change all of it, just throw it all out and start again. That's the wrong message to send. We'll keep working at it, but we don't want it to be a massive thing."

Injured pair James McDonald (hamstring) and Colin Sylvia (toe) will have to wait at least one more week before they are brought back into the Melbourne senior line-up, but Sylvia will run out for VFL side Casey against Werribee on Saturday.

It will be the 24-year-old’s first competitive game since he was hospitalised with a blood clot in his toe early in June.

Bailey said the decision to bring Sylvia back via the VFL came about because of a need to build his confidence.

“It’s got to a stage with Col where he’s got to test it in a game," Bailey said.

"He trained well in our main training session. He needs to get a game of confidence with it. Hopefully he pulls up well for selection next week.  

“I think he needs to play a fair chunk of the game on Saturday. He will get more confidence from playing more game time than trying to limit the game time. Obviously we’ll monitor how he’s going during the game, but he needs to start playing with it.”

McDonald has also been sidelined since the round 11 game against Carlton, and Bailey said he would take a conservative approach with his captain.

 “We’re probably being a little safer at the moment. I wish the doctor was here to give you a far clearer indication of what’s wrong with his hamstring. We’re going to be safe with him. Hopefully he can get a good block of training in next week,” he said.

Bailey said taking on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium will be a valuable experience for his young side.

“It is a big challenge for most of our guys who are starting to move towards the 10-30 game mark and those who are in the 25-50 game mark,” he said.

“I think playing the Saints on Sunday is certainly going to be a great learning curve for them.”