MELBOURNE midfielder Brent Moloney says last week's gallant performance against Collingwood won't mean a thing if the Demons can't back it up against Adelaide on Sunday.

Moloney said Sunday's clash at the MCG is critical for the team to show all concerned that last week's heartbreaking one-point loss to Collingwood was not a one-off effort.

"It's a massive game for us. They'll be pretty fired up because they've lost their first two and the pressure will be on them as well," Moloney told melbournefc.com.au.

"We're coming into this game with a little bit of confidence from last week, but also a hunger to win our first game of the year.

"If we don't back it up this week, then it counts for nothing. The effort last week was good, but it doesn't count for anything if we don't back it up this week."

Moloney, who finished runner-up to Aaron Davey in last year's Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy, said Melbourne's intensity, attack on the ball and pressure on Collingwood was clearly superior from its season-opener against Hawthorn.

The need to maintain the improvement in these key areas had been drilled into the entire squad from the leadership group down, according to Moloney.

"If we can have our second-tier players stepping up and playing like they did each week, we're going to win more games than we lose.

"The effort of the players was fantastic [against Collingwood] and we can use some belief out of that against Adelaide."

Moloney said one of the pleasing aspects against the Pies was the efforts of included duo forward Michael Newton and runner Rohan Bail.

"Newton would've been disappointed to be put back onto the rookie list, but he's worked really hard and had good form at Casey. He came into the game and he did some good things, so it's a great story and hopefully he can stay in the senior side," Moloney said.

"It was pretty much Rohan Bail's first game, because he did his quad in the warm-up of his first game (against North Melbourne in round 19) last year.

"He was exciting and he can run - he's one of the best runners at the club - so a lot of teams probably underestimate him and don't know much about him. He really showed what he's got on the weekend."

The Demons expect Colin Sylvia to return against the Crows after recovering from a broken jaw sustained against the West Coast Eagles in the final NAB Challenge match.

"I'm pretty sure he'll be right to go," Moloney said.

"He's been training the last couple of weeks and he's been eager to get out there and build on last year's form," he said.