With some of the best young talent in the country and the AFL's no.1 excitement machine, expectations are high at the oldest football club in the nation (the world according to some) - the Melbourne Football Club.

Some scintillating football in patches towards the end of the last season even had the Demons in contention for a finals berth and the club enters 2011 with the reasonable expectation of being in the thick of the finals race come the end of round 24.

We've already noted in our 2011 AFL previews that the battle for the final eight this year is a race between 12 teams and the Demons are in amongst it. But we at BPL believe they might need one more year of looking on in September before their time will come.

Not for the first time, cue the angry posts at Demonland.

But here's the thing about the Demons. While there are plenty in the red and blue heartland feeling mightily bullish about the season at hand, there are others who look at the pre-season just completed and have their concerns. It started well enough with NAB Cup round-robin wins over Adelaide and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium (where Melbourne hasn't collected four points since 2001) but what followed was a poor loss to Essendon in the quarter-final and then two dispiriting NAB Challenge losses to Brisbane and then Hawthorn.

The former hadn't beaten anyone of note, the latter was without three of its best players and did the damage after half-time when more of its better players were on the bench.

There is plenty to like about Melbourne. The backline is coming together nicely, anchored by 2010 All Australian James Frawley, Jared Rivers and Jack Grimes, the dashing defender who in style of play (but not the hair!) reminds us of former Carlton champion Bruce Doull.

The midfield has some speed and grunt, the ruck is much improved and the forward line has some real scoring power. New skipper Brad Green was an inspiration in 2010, while excitement machine Liam Jurrah is good for mark of the week, or goal of the week seemingly every time he plays.

We're not quite as sold on Jack Watts, though. The term 'good ordinary footballer' comes to mind for the no.1 draft pick of 2008 and we're probably having a bet each way. He still has the makings of a fine player but we agree with Leigh Matthews that he has yet to show the qualities of a player picked first in the draft. Those who say he needs a year at half-back to better learn how to play foorty might be right, the problem beiung is that Melbourne's back-half is pretty settled.

Melbourne has depth and some kids (Sam Blease, Jordan Gysberts, Jeremy Howe and Luke Tapscott, among others) who have yet to play or have barely done so.

But now for the caveats. The AFL season is long and it is a slog and the Demons enter 2011 without a pair of veterans who now precisely how to navigate the journey. Melbourne shepherded skipper James McDonald out the door at the end of last season - too hastily in the opinion of many - with plans to do the same to Cameron Bruce presumably at the end of this year. Bruce is a bit smarter than that - he went to the same school as this columnist - sniffed the wind and moved to Hawthorn. The loss of Brad Miller as well meant that 608 games of experience has walked out the door. New skipper Green (220) is the only player at Melbourne with more than 150 games under his belt.

The other query on the Dees is their ball movement. And explained so lucidly in Monday's Herald Sun, the Demons score enough when they get inside 50, it's just that they get there less than other teams in the competition. The Demons need to get their skates on, generate forward thrusts and get it inside 50 more quickly, and therefore more often.

Melbourne's draw is reasonable and of the likely top four candidates, it only plays Hawthorn twice. Collingwood, Geelong, St Kilda, Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs only appear once on the fixture.

The other factor for Melbourne is Tom Scully, who handled himself impressively when he fronted the media a fortnight ago. The odds are slightly in favour of him staying with Melbourne in the long term, but he didn't quite rule out the prospect of a move to the Giants. It will be some sort of distraction all year for the Demons and for Scully, but what would move him to put pen to paper is the prospect of playing finals in 2011.

All this adds to the expectation hanging over the Demons this year. They're good enough for 10 wins. Find another couple and they're bound for the finals. Lose a couple and the momentum might have been halted and Scully might well choose to pack his bags.

The story so far

12. North Melbourne

13. West Coast

14. Richmond

15. Gold Coast

16. Port Adelaide

17. Brisbane