Are the Demons a 'genuine contender'?

With the Demons securing their biggest scalp of the season thus far, Brenton Sanderson believes the side must be in the conversation for this year’s premiership.

Melbourne issued a warning shot to the rest of the competition that they are a contender on Saturday afternoon with a four-point win over the ladder-leading Dockers.

That marked their 10th win at the MCG this season from 11 matches with the dangerous Dees firming for a top six spot.

With a home elimination final now firmly on the cards, the former Adelaide coach believes they can be a contender.

“It's one of the most entertaining games of footy,” Sanderson said on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“Both sides going through the corridor, awesome offence. Both score over 100 points.

“And the Demons, they're a genuine contender now. They have to be, don't they?”

It's been quite the rise for Melbourne, having finished 14th last season and parted ways with their coach in Simon Goodwin and their best players in Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.

But with new coach Steven King coming in, he's managed to reset the club culture, helping spark their rise up the ladder.

Whilst Cam Luke wasn’t as bullish on their chances of the club winning their 14th V/AFL premiership in 2026, he does think they are a side to be scared of particularly on their home ground.

“There's never a free hit in professional sports; there's varying levels of it, absolutely,” Luke explained.

“So, when you're a new coach and there's a whole new regime and a whole new look at it, I thought, Steven King will come in here, he's got a bunch of kids who like to run, you've got Max Gawn, you've got Kozzie Pickett, you've got two of the top 8/10 players in the league, let's just let them go, right?

“Obviously they're structures, but let them go and just let's see what happens. Let's not try and bog them down too much.

“Then they got that momentum, they started playing that type of good footy, and they got to Round 7 or 8 and then they're like, hang on a second, we're actually kind of good.

“So, there was no time to actually try and put the handbrake on in some aspect of what the lid and how high the ceiling actually is for them.

“I think it's snowballed into this type of momentum where they are the most dangerous team.

"I don't think they can win the flag, but I also think they're probably the kind of team, in particular at the MCG, if it turns out that way with the fixture, and Geelong and Hawthorn and Melbourne are in that conversation.

“You just don't wanna play them.”

The Demons are off to the City of Churches next week as they take on Port Adelaide on Saturday night.

That match begins at 8:10pm AEST.