MELBOURNE midfielder Nathan Jones is adamant next Saturday night's clash against the Brisbane Lions at the MCG will be the biggest match he has played in since featuring in two finals in 2006.

The 22-year-old played in Melbourne's second elimination final win against St Kilda and its second semi-final loss against Fremantle in his debut season. He expects Melbourne's round-five encounter against the undefeated Lions will be of similar intensity. 

"Definitely, it's a real opportunity against Brisbane on Saturday night - it'll be the biggest game I've been involved since my first year", Jones told melbournefc.com.au.

"They're in form and they've got some key players and they're going to have to study and really work on this week.

"To be two [wins] and two [losses] and have that challenge ahead of us - it's what you want. You want to test yourself against the good teams and they're four [wins] straight, so it'll give us an idea of where we're at".

Jones was among Melbourne's best in its 55-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, collecting 27 disposals.

He was especially upbeat about the five-goal - and personal-best - effort of teammate Colin Sylvia, who returned from a broken jaw sustained against West Coast in the final week of the pre-season.

"It was bloody good to see Col come back today," Jones said. 

"We know the talent that he's got - he showed that last year.

"We wanted him back out here and I thought he was going to come back last week, but they just decided to give him another week. All week, you could tell he was itching to get out there".