MELBOURNE co-captain James McDonald says he and his teammates were "gob-smacked" by the generosity of the club's supporters at Tuesday night's Debt Demolition function.

More than $2 million was raised, a large slice of the $5 million debt that president Jim Stynes and his board have made a priority to erode.

McDonald believes the Demons will take a lot of positivity from the success of the evening as they prepare for the Friday night clash against ladder leader Geelong.

"It was a fantastic night and I think it gave us a real boost. It's great to see these supporters are sticking by us," he said.

"It was great to see all of the support of the past players and supporters who financially contributed to the club. It was a great night, with a great theme and it's exciting to see a new chapter in the club.

"There has been a lot of negative press about us losing money and that can have a negative impact on the playing group, especially when you see some of the facilities the interstate clubs have and it can create an unfair playing field.

"With this cash injection, it can now help us and hopefully we can compete with other clubs' facilities in the future.

"It also gives our players an opportunity."

McDonald, one of his side's best in its loss to Essendon last weekend, added that the players would draw on their round three effort against the Cats – a match they lost by 30 points after challenging the reigning premier for most of the day.

"We've just got to do our homework ... we know we've talked about that (the round three match). We're always a chance ... funnier things have happened," McDonald said.

"The boys are excited about playing in this [Tom Wills] game on Friday night – a lot of our younger players haven't played in a Friday night match and they're dying to play.

"So the atmosphere should be great.

"We've been improving over the last six to eight weeks and the young blokes are keen to keep having a crack."