MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says he was in no doubt key forward Brad Miller could take the contested mark and convert the his fourth goal – the match-winner – against the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on Sunday.

Miller took a fine pressure mark in front of goal during the dying stages, before kicking truly, which ultimately gave Melbourne its second win of the season.

But when asked how he reacted to this nail-biting situation for the red and blue faithful, Bailey said: "I just expected him to mark it. You have that confidence in players."

"It was great to see him mark the ball and kick that goal … the game's about the players, not about us and Brad's very well regarded amongst his teammates and his peers and when he kicked the goal, I think you found lots of blokes were real excited from what he'd done."

Bailey praised Miller's efforts, as three of his goals came in Melbourne's best first quarter for the season.

"I think Brad's always had it in him. What he's doing now hasn't really surprised the people at the club or his teammates that know he can do it – he just needs to do it more consistently and he's done it today and his contested mark in the goalsquare was fantastic," Bailey said.

"His attack on the ball all day was great and I think more than anything Brad's just been consistent and he's been contributing well with his marking, chasing and tackling and the leadership he's shows around the club, in the leadership group, which has really helped him. I think he's grown and probably matured pretty quickly this year."

Bailey also praised big man Paul Johnson's run-down chase on Lion Justin Sherman late in the match.

"Paul Johnson was good and that effort on the wing was fantastic," Bailey said.

"Paul Johnson's chase was indicative of where he was, we were, the players were going to go to the nth degree to try and win the game and that was a great individual part of the game I thought."

Bailey also spoke highly of Brad Green's performance.

"Brad's been consistent in an inconsistent year for us and 'Greeny' has been terrific … he's a very smart player and his contribution was terrific, but he's been like that for most of the year, Brad," Bailey said.

As for the win, Bailey was asked if he would've felt hard done by if the Demons had lost and the first-year senior coach was philosophical in his answer: "No, probably not."

"The game's played right out until … the siren goes and whatever happens in that last three minutes was always going to tell a good story," Bailey said.

"They got in front and to our guys' credit, they just decided they didn't want to lose – they just didn't want to lose and they wanted to do everything they could to win the game and the players fought it out to the last 75 seconds when it was stoppage, stoppage, stoppage, stoppage and I thought it was really impressive.

"The desperation in amongst those 18 players around the footy could've gone either way, but I thought the players were very committed right to the end, which was good."