Work to do, says Demons mentor

CHEESE board banquets have been all the rage, but Melbourne fans might refrain from celebratory bubbles just yet.

After an 11-year wait, the Demons all but secured a finals berth when they beat Brisbane Lions at the MCG yesterday, but it wasn’t a performance to disconcert September rivals.

Barring upsets in the final round, the Demons will embark on their first finals campaign since 2006, a year in which only three players on their list — Nathan Jones, Jordan Lewis and Bernie Vince — had made their AFL debuts.

Coach Simon Goodwin not celebrating yet.

“We’ve still got work to do and we’ve still got a job to do next week,’’ he said.

“I’ve said this a long way out ... it’s where you sit at the end of Round 23 and last I checked, we’ve still got a week to go.

“It’s exciting for our supporters, the position we’re in, but the job is not done yet. It’s not Round 23, we haven’t achieved anything just yet, we’ve still got a lot of work to do.’’

The Demons struggled to shake off the tenacious Lions yesterday. They will need to find another gear for the finals. is

Melbourne didn’t start like a team ready to embark on a finals campaign.

Missing injured co-captain Jack Viney, they led by a goal at quarter time, three points at half time and 15 points at the last change.

When James Harmes stretched the lead to 32 points five minutes into the last term, the contest looked over.

But the Lions cut the deficit to seven points before the Demons steadied through late goals from Cam Pedersen and Angus Brayshaw.

Melbourne key forward Jesse Hogan made the most of his surprise comeback from a fractured collarbone.

He had missed three games following surgery after the Round 19 clash with North Melbourne in Hobart.

Last week, the spotlight was on midfielder Brayshaw when he returned from repeated concussions and he didn’t disappoint, with 26 possessions.

This week, Hogan was a standout with six goals, nine marks and 15 possessions to provide a highlight in what has been an otherwise horrible year for the young star.

Goodwin paid tribute to the 22-year-old, who has had to deal with the death of his father and a testicular cancer diagnosis.

After an impressive match against St Kilda last week, Pedersen again performed strongly, kicking three goals and having 24 possessions.

Jones (32 disposals) and Clayton Oliver (30 touches) led the charge in the midfield.

Lions captain Dayne Beams (33 disposals) and Dayne Zorko (26) caused headaches and Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn went without a touch in the opening term.

There could be fallout for the Demons from the match review panel. Vince is likely to come under scrutiny for a late spoil on Beams in the second quarter when his arm collected the Brisbane midfielder in the head.