MELBOURNE can make finals.

However, in order to do so, the club must reassess its 2016 ambitions and put a specific focus on its next month of football.

Prior to a ball being kicked this year, Paul Roos alluded to Melbourne setting its main aims on continued improvement. To narrow that focus, the goal was to win more than seven games.

Realistically, they could surpass that landmark by Round 12.

Round 18

Therefore, the Dees must make a mid-season adjustment to what they hope to achieve this season and start to target September football.

For that to happen, their next four weeks is crucial.

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Melbourne plays Brisbane at the MCG, travels to the Alice Springs to face Port Adelaide, then returns to the ‘G for crucial clashes against Hawthorn and Collingwood.

If they can win at least three of those games — a distinct possibility — then Melbourne can well and truly put finals football on its radar.

Three wins puts the Demons 7-5 by the time the bye rounds begin in Round 13. That would mean that just by breaking even in the final 10 weeks, the club is on the verge of something special.

Christian Petracca has given the Dees a boost. Picture: Adam Head. Source: News Corp Australia

But for a list that remains one of the youngest and most inexperienced in the competition, asking them to do more than a 5-5 split throughout a tough run-in is perhaps too big of an ask.

Over the last fortnight, the average age of Melbourne’s team has been 23.7 years — the youngest in the AFL. Asking them to produce consistent footy against the likes of Sydney, Adelaide, West Coast, Hawthorn and Geelong without the buffer of being 7-5 will prove difficult.

Regardless, Melbourne, Roos and coach-in-waiting Simon Goodwin deserve praise for what they have already achieved this season.

The team averaged just 71.5 points per game last year (ranked 16th in the competition) and has already improved that output to 105.9 points per game this year (ranked fifth).

But there are distinct areas of improvement that need to be addressed if they are to ultimately compete at the pointy end of the season.

As identified on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, their ‘Demons Diamond’ structure from centre bounces is bold, brave and has the potential to be a huge success.

Still, Roos must find the perfect players to rush into the square from half back and aid the side’s grunt midfielders like Nathan Jones and Jack Viney.

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As Adelaide has found with Eddie Betts and Fremantle has identified with Michael Walters, the best players to fill this role are those who are quick and agile with good footy smarts.

The Dees have those players at their disposal and could profit from trialling the likes of Jeff Garlett or Ben Kennedy in this position, giving the team more penetration from half back.

However, the ‘Demons Diamond’ strategy can also leave them vulnerable defensively, particularly if Max Gawn has an off day — as he did against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

Therefore, Roos and Goodwin must consider a more conventional Plan B in the case that things go wrong.

In fact, defensive issues would be the coaching team’s primary concern going into a make-or-break month for Melbourne.

The team concedes a score 50.4 per cent of the time their opposition enters its attacking 50, the sixth worst rate in the competition. What doesn’t help is that the club has the worst pressure differential in the AFL, enabling teams to expose an undermanned and underperforming back six.

For a team to hold up and prove successful in the heat of finals footy, its defence must be virtually impenetrable. Improving in that area of the field is therefore a priority for the Dees.

If they can do that over the next month, three wins and a stable platform to build upon throughout the second half of the season are formed.

And from there, anything is possible.

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