Melbourne's last-round clash with the Western Bulldogs is a final audition for the AFL club as they attempt to woo premiership coach Paul Roos.
The Demons face the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon with former Sydney coach Roos certain to be an interested party after admitting he was now 50-50 about taking the vacant senior coaching position.
Roos, who this week turned down the same role at Brisbane, has had a significant turnaround in his position.
"There is more interest now. I am certainly not at the point where I can say, 'Yes I will do it', but you start thinking about it; you start picturing yourself doing it; what does it look like, and all those things," he told Fox Footy.
"I have moved from zero to around that 50-50 mark but, at some point, you have to say are you going to dip your toe in the water. You have got to be fair dinkum about it."
Former Bulldogs and Sydney coach Rodney Eade, who had been linked to the Demons job, also announced on Friday that he planned to stay at Collingwood as director of football.
Interim Melbourne coach Neil Craig said the Demons were looking to finish a miserable season, in which they've only had two wins, on a high.
One of those wins was in round 14 against the Bulldogs when they held on in a three-point thriller.
But Craig was the first to admit their opponents had grown in stature and form since then, winning three of their past five games.
"Even when we played them, they were on the rise, starting to come good and their last few weeks have been quite exceptional," Craig said.
He said his own team had shown some promising signs with a strong first quarter in their last outing against Adelaide.
"Our challenge is to try and take that first quarter into Sunday but try to extend and give us more of it."
Despite the slim pickings, Craig said his highlight in the role this season wasn't the round-14 victory.
"The highlight for me has been working with this group in general, in terms of developing them as people and developing leadership qualities.
"The wins are the end product of all the work that the guys do.
"For our supporters, that's their greatest highlight because that's all they get to see.
"I'm not flippant about that win but I get a lot more satisfaction from what we do through the week than that win."
Veteran midfielder Daniel Cross is playing his last game for the Bulldogs, after 210 appearances, while Demons forward Aaron Davey is also finishing up at Melbourne after 10 years and 179 AFL games.
