Tom Sparrow has a mantra from his dad: always keep learning.
It's a motto more relevant to the 22-year-old's construction management university studies but can just as easily be applied to his midfield apprenticeship at Melbourne.
Sparrow became a premiership player in Melbourne's breakthrough flag team last year and has kicked on in 2022, playing all but one game, which he missed through COVID-19 protocols.
It's something Sparrow attributes to workrate, along with guidance and backing from midfield guns Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and Angus Brayshaw.
Sparrow tries to pick up little things from his star teammates: Viney's hardness, Petracca's flair and Oliver's ball-winning ability chief among them.
"There's all these players that have different strengths that I try and take little bits and pieces from their training and put them together," he told AAP.
"But they're obviously really good players and very senior players as well, so they've helped me a lot throughout my year.
"It's just about your ability to be selfless as well. Those boys know what they're good at but they don't try to do too much. Everyone just plays their part.
"When it's their turn to go, they go. We can build that trust with each other.
"So when it's someone else's turn to go, you can back them in and build that real chemistry. That's been really good."
If Sparrow speaks beyond his years, his sharehouse situation with James Jordon, the substitute in last year's grand final, is a reminder of his youth.
"It's in pretty good nick. It's very minimalist though. We've got nothing in there" he said.
"We haven't really got any pictures on the wall or anything like that. It's very simple, we're very simple guys."
The equation is simple for Melbourne, too: win Friday night's qualifying final against the Swans at the MCG and a second-straight preliminary final awaits.
Round 23's thumping victory over Brisbane gave the Demons a ruthless edge that has them believing their style "stands up" in big games and can again deliver something special in September.
"We know we can do it now. So now it's about doing it again and again until the end of the year," Sparrow said.
"For us, it's just building that confidence. We've done it before, albeit in a different state.
"We've got a driving factor with our fans now here to give them something to cheer about.
"That belief is right there and we're going to do everything we can to try and get a result."
