AHEAD of Friday night's clash with premier Geelong, Melbourne coach Dean Bailey has indicated his side needs to source a unique, effective game plan to replicate the Cats' success in seasons to come.

However, he believes Hawthorn's move to embrace the next phase of the modern game may see that club overtake Geelong before long.

Bailey's assessment came at Melbourne's Debt Demolition on Tuesday night, a function that raised more than $2 million.

"The game demands that you need to be at the next level beyond Geelong," he said.

"A little bit of what Hawthorn is doing is probably where the next phase of the game is going to be and it's going to be more around the different situations where zoning is going to be.

"But how you do it and how you construct a team is going to be the next phase. And I think the Hawks have got a little bit of a jump on where the game's going, but at the moment Geelong are the pace-setters and people are going to follow what they're doing.

"But if you only ever follow, you never catch them, so you've got to be looking for that next number in the game."

Geelong has won 38 of its 43 matches since the start of 2007, while Melbourne has won two of 18 in Bailey's first season at the helm.

It encouraged pundits to write-off the Demons' chances against the Cats in round three, even though they challenged them for most of the game to lose by 30 points.

"I was getting a bit p***** off with people saying, 'You're going to get another flogging' and all of this crap thrown at us," Bailey said.

"Friday night's a great challenge for us and we have got players who are out injured, but we're going to go out there with a really strong mindset that'll test the character of our players."

To read the full story on Bailey's address at the Debt Demolition function, click here.