MELBOURNE has employed a different training technique this week in an attempt to arrest the sluggish performance the players put in following the club's first bye in round five.
The Demons were beaten by West Coast by 54 points in round six after being given a long weekend, with assistant coach Brian Royal telling melbournefc.com.au this week the players' mindset "wasn't where it should have been".
After touching down in Darwin on Thursday ahead of Saturday night's clash with Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium, coach Dean Bailey said they had approached this bye differently to the one back in April.
"We've probably trained a little bit harder, to be honest. We had a main session last Thursday and another main session on the Monday," he said, at the Demons' Friday afternoon Top End training session.
"They probably weren't as long as normal main sessions but the intensity was far greater.
"So we've probably done a bit of extra work. Rather than give them three or four days off, they had the weekend off and trained either side.
"We think that's certainly different to what we've done, even after the [eight-day] break after West Coast [before facing Adelaide in round seven]."
The Demons will again wear gloves to aid with the slippery conditions associated with Top End games, and have two sessions at TIO Stadium under their belts in a bid to familiarise themselves with the surroundings.
Bailey said recent rain in Melbourne had helped the players again get used to playing with fabric on their hands but admitted nothing could really prepare them for Darwin's sapping heat, with Saturday's forecast 32 degrees.
"The boys have trialed the gloves during the week and if you don't wear them often enough it can be a different sort of feel," he said.
"The boys have been practicing with them during the week and training with them.
"It rained funnily enough in Melbourne during the week and was pretty slippery then so the boys got to use the gloves and that's some preparation, but the heat is one of those things.
"It's very difficult to acclimatise within 48 hours anywhere you want to go. Like we did last year we'll hang on and hopefully our fitness will come through."
Bailey said the Demons' last Darwin trip, which resulted in a one-point win over Port Adelaide in round nine, 2010, brought back "good memories for most of the game" with the exception of a patch in the last quarter where Port got on top.
He also paid attention more recently to the round 10 clash between Richmond and the Power and how the dampness of the ground affected the game.
"I think these conditions really even out the competition," he said.
"You saw what happened last time Richmond and Port, the conditions did have an impact on the ball handling, so we're fully aware of it."
Austin Wonaeamirri was present when the Demons trained on Thursday night, and is expected to attend Saturday's game.
Bailey said he had caught up with the forward, who requested personal leave in May to travel home to the Tiwi Islands to deal with the loss of his father Matthew and mentor Maurice Rioli late last year.
He said Wonaeamirri had benefitted from the opportunity to get back to his cultural roots, and felt optimistic the 22-year-old would decide to come back to the club at some point.
"I just get the feeling that the next challenge is maybe getting back and giving himself a better crack at AFL football," he said.
"We spoke about the opportunities that are still there at Melbourne … we just need him to get on the front foot and make the decision to come back and start playing with us.
"I know the players have been texting him and annoying him the past two or three weeks; one he's popular and two he's a very good player.
"We'll keep working with him and hopefully we'll get him back to nice chilly Melbourne as soon as we can."
He said he felt Wonaeamirri still had the desire to pursue an AFL career.
"But until he makes the decision to get on the plane and come back ... but he's a lot more levelled now than what he was when he left," he said.
"Sometimes these situations in any man's life or any sportsman's life might be the trigger for something better to come."