Melbourne coach Steven King wants his team to use Saturday's clash with flag favourites Fremantle as a full dress rehearsal as the Demons gear up for a surprise finals campaign.
The Demons were widely tipped to finish near the foot of the table this year following the exit of premiership superstars Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Steven May.
But Melbourne have defied all expectations under first-year coach King, with the Demons currently sitting in sixth spot with a 13-7 record, just percentage adrift of the fourth-placed Crows.
Ladder leaders Fremantle (18-2) have become the dominant team of the competition this year, and they kicked seven goals to one in the first quarter against Melbourne in round two on the way to a 48-point win in Perth.
King is confident his team have evolved significantly since then, but he knows the big test of that growth will come in Saturday's game.
"It's a great dress rehearsal for both teams really," King said.
"For us, it's just a great great test to see where we're at and where we've grown.
"We played them in round two over there and started really poorly on the road, and I think we've evolved a lot, matured a lot, and grown a lot from that game.
"Our players are up for it, and we can't wait for it."
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Fremantle have become renowned for blowing teams away in second halves, but King is backing his team's elite fitness to be able to stay with the Dockers.
And with September action just around the corner, King senses his players are ready to lift a gear.
"I think now the weather's starting to turn a bit, the promise of some September action sort of puts everyone up a bit and jumps out of your skin a little bit more to train."
Saturday's match marks only Fremantle's second visit to the MCG this year.
Dockers coach Justin Longmuir is doing his best to downplay the significance of it being a dress rehearsal for a possible grand final visit, despite Fremantle having played at the MCG just 12 times since 2019.
"I don't think it's overly important, to be honest," Longmuir said.
"Yeah, maybe for a couple of our players who haven't played a lot there, it might be great to get back.
"But we feel like we've played there enough, had good experiences, had some average experiences there, beaten teams that have been on top of the ladder.
"We feel like it's not a burden going to MCG. So we don't get caught up in dress rehearsals."
