DESPITE being on the cusp of its first finals series in 11 years, coach Simon Goodwin says Melbourne is under no illusions about what it needs to do for the rest of the year – and finals are the furthest thing from its mind.

Goodwin stressed that with the competition so evenly matched this year – and with another five home and away rounds remaining – the top eight was still wide open.

“We haven’t spoken about it (finals) as a footy club yet. It’s not where you sit in round 18, it’s where you sit in round 23,” he said at a media conference held at AAMI Park on Thursday.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and five weeks is a long time in a season, so we can’t afford to look too far in front.

“We’re in a position where you can have a really positive 14 days as a footy club … but if you have a poor seven or 14 days – you’re right back in the pack.”

With Melbourne playing North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena in Hobart on Saturday, Goodwin said it was another genuine test for his team.

“They’ve played some really good footy in Hobart and they’ve got a 75 per cent winning [streak] in Hobart, so it’s a ground that they know well,” he said.

“They’ve actually played some strong footy throughout the year – they’ve played a lot of close games, so we know there are some challenges there.

“We played at Hobart last year and understand the difficulties at the ground. It is a unique ground to play at, so we’ll get down there Friday and have a look around and make sure we’re well prepared for some of those things in Hobart.”

Goodwin said Melbourne’s 11-game losing streak against North Melbourne, which stretches back to 2006, hadn’t been mentioned at all.

“It hasn’t been brought up because this playing group just wants to get on and build and create their own pathway forward,” he said.

“Those things to us are irrelevant. We’ve broken a lot of things – [winning at] Etihad [Stadium] and beating some other teams that we’ve played against [in recent times].

“That’s the part of building a strong footy club. When you’ve got a strong footy team, you tend to break a lot of those hoodoos.”