MELBOURNE'S mourning players plan to adopt the legendary competitive spirit of their late president Jim Stynes when they take on the Brisbane Lions in their round-one encounter at the MCG on Saturday.

Demons midfielder Nathan Jones told SEN radio on Monday morning that Stynes' funeral on Tuesday would be a sad day not only for the club but for the nation, and he vowed to draw inspiration from the tragedy.

"I'm sure Jimmy would just want us to compete, which is where he's wanted the footy club to get back to the whole time he's been involved," Jones said.

"I think he'd just want the boys to go out there and just make sure they give their full effort like he did … no matter what the result, as long as you walk off with your head held high, which is what Jimmy was kind of known for.

"I think he'd be pretty proud of that."

Jones said there was no doubt the Demons were still adjusting to the game plan of new coach Mark Neeld.

"It's going to take some time and some tinkering," he said.

"It's fairly different compared to how we played in previous years. We've worked hard over the last few weeks in particular and there's some signs showing we're not too far away from getting it right more often than not.

"It's more just the structure of things; how 'Neeldy' wants us to move the ball and that kind of thing is a little bit different.

"And it's that whole team defence mentality and getting everyone to work on the same page, which is pretty difficult at times, but when it works you can see that it's really successful for teams like Geelong and Collingwood."

Jones also wasn't surprised by the performance of former Melbourne skipper James McDonald in Greater Western Sydney's inaugural match - his first game since 2010.

"He's a competitive animal," Jones said.

"I reckon he'd still be able to play at 40-45.

"I knew he'd be able to deliver and I think he's going to be a great asset for GWS. All those young midfielders will be able to learn so much off him. He's such a great leader.

"As we saw on the weekend, he's one of the oldest players in the competition but he's still got it. In terms of skill-wise, his competitive nature and his ability to tackle and put pressure on is still up there with the best."