REBUILD FOR FLAG TILT

MELBOURNE believes it can emulate West Coast’s stunning surge in 2015 by restructuring its defence and staying in the premiership race.

The Demons will spend the next month searching for a new backline mix with Josh Smith and Harrison Petty chances to be given first crack at replacing Jake Lever (ACL) for the Queen’s Birthday match.

Re-signed former defender Tom McDonald will stay forward, while Sam Frost was not named in the extended squad.

Retired Eagles midfielder Xavier Ellis yesterday said losing defensive pillars Eric Mackenzie (pre-season) and Mitch Brown (Round 1) to season ending ACL injuries in 2015 helped instil a no-fear approach as West Coast reached the grand final.

“We were initially a bit rocked by who was going to fill those positions,” Ellis said.

“But it actually gave us an extra layer of protection in that no one expected it to work.

“Lever is a great footballer, but who’s to say the next option isn’t a player [who has] a game style that’s better than the one that had Lever involved anyway? Maybe playing small is the new way of playing football. They might accidentally discover it early.”

Last year Richmond’s dearth of key forwards led to trying Jack Riewoldt as the only target in an unconventional structure that won the premiership.

In 2015 Eagles coach Adam Simpson turned to Brad Sheppard (186cm) and Will Schofield (196cm) to help Shannon Hurn take on the gorilla forwards and stumbled across a brilliant defensive set-up.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin yesterday said Lever’s injury had cost the team “real leadership and communication”.

“I look back at West Coast in 2015 where they lost two or three of their key defenders and they found a different formula that was successful,” Goodwin said on SEN.

“We’ll continue to test and learn over the next month and find the right person to come in.”