Melbourne Demons scour list for Lever cover

Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones is confident the Demons have the necessary personnel to cover the loss of Jake Lever.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury and Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones pose in beanies in support of the FightMND campaign. Picture: AAP.

Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones is confident the Demons have the necessary personnel to cover a costly loss in defence for the remainder of the season.

The decision to lure former Crow Jake Lever home on a multi-year contract reputedly worth $800,000 a season had looked a canny move in recent weeks.

As the 2017 All Australian nominee adapted to his new surroundings over the past month, Melbourne’s defence held firm while their forwards went on a goal kicking rampage.

But with Lever out for the year with a knee injury, the Demons’ challenge is finding a defender who can slot in while causing minimal disruption to the roles their teammates are playing.

Jones nominated a quartet of players — Josh Wagner, Sam Frost, Jayden Hunt and Joel Smith — whom he believes could fill a role that could prove career-defining should the Demons continue the strong form that has carried them to third on the ladder.

He said: “Finding the right mix is the challenge for the coaching group, in particular, over the next few weeks.

“That’s something the coaches will work on the next few days in match committee and we’ll see how it shapes on Monday.”

Of the teams in the eight, only their Queen’s Birthday rival Collingwood has conceded more points than Melbourne this year.

But the average of 77 points against is still a stark improvement on recent years. The Demons conceded an average of 88 points last year and missed the eight on percentage. In 2016, it was 90 points.

Exactly who Melbourne opts for will be a pointer to how well coach Simon Goodwin believes his defence can cope in the ­absence of Lever, who provided drive off halfback and lurked as an intercept option.

Wagner, 23, performed well early in the season before being dropped. Smith, 22, is considered extremely athletic but is yet to play this year after struggling with injuries in his first season last year.

The 24-year-old Frost looked to have consolidated a spot after playing 32 games the previous two years, but fell out of favour in the failed run to the finals last year.

Hunt, 23, was another to catch the eye with his dash last season but he was dropped after five rounds this year. Jones yesterday said Hunt needed to improve the balance in his game.

“When we’ve won six in a row, I think it makes it tough for guys to squeeze their way back in,” he said.

“They’ve really got to bang down the door in the VFL. I think Hunty is really aware of what we expect of him.

“He could fill Jake’s role. The luxury for us is that we’ve got guys in form and it could potentially be five guys (vying for the role).”

An outside option was veteran Cam Pedersen, though it was likely he would be considered only if the Demons started to struggle and Goodwin opted for a reshuffle.

The 31-year-old can play from the forward line to defence but has been used mainly as cover for either Tom McDonald, Jesse Hogan and ruckman Max Gawn over the past two seasons.

The seventh-placed Collingwood trail the Demons by one win, although there is a significant percentage gap.

Magpies captain Scott Pendlebury was confident the Magpies, who have had their own injury woes this season, could challenge.

Collingwood are yet to topple a side above them on the ladder but Pendlebury doesn’t believe that diminishes their improvement.