MELBOURNE midfielder Nathan Jones says an early-season bye has been a positive for the Demons, who used their 11-day break to review the first month of the season ahead of a testing trip to Patersons Stadium.
The Demons, who arrived in Perth on Tuesday ahead of Thursday night's clash with West Coast, enter round six with two wins and a draw from four games.
However, they need to overcome a 10-game losing run at Patersons Stadium and a negative trend for teams coming off a bye to improve their record this week.
While the in-form West Coast will also enter this clash after an extended 12-day break, Jones said Melbourne was confident it could benefit from the early week off.
"Not many teams after four weeks of the season get to sit back and reassess, so we're definitely taking it as a real positive for us to kick-start the next part of the year," Jones said in Perth on Wednesday.
"We've been able to review our first four games and the performances and where we can improve.
"Our forward pressure, we've put a bit of work into that. The best teams have really been performing well this year, and that's probably an area where we can still improve."
The Demons used a similar travel schedule ahead of their 90-point win over Gold Coast at the Gabba in round four and Jones said arriving interstate two days ahead of the match allowed the players to freshen up and adjust to the time and weather.
Only three current Demons - captain Brad Green, Jared Rivers and Aaron Davey - were playing when the side last won at Patersons Stadium, in round 11, 2004, and Jones said the side faced a big challenge on Thursday night.
"West Coast are in super form, but we've prepared the best we can," he said. "We've had a real focus on trying to play well interstate like all the good teams.
"It's a big ground and we've got a lot of fit running players, so that could definitely work in our favour. But as we’ve seen recently, West Coast have been in amazing form."
Star Eagle Mark LeCras is expected to play after recovering from a serious groin injury well ahead of schedule and Jones said the Demons had prepared for the All Australian forward.
"I think our backline's really flexible and we have got the match-up for him if he does play," the 23-year-old said.
"He's really dominant for West Coast and a vital part of their forward line.
"We saw last year there was a great match-up between him and James Frawley, so maybe something like that will happen again."
Nathan Schmook covers West Coast news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_NSchmook
