Melbourne hope a new travel schedule will help them end a worrying Perth hoodoo when they confront fellow AFL up-and-comers West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Thursday night.

The Demons have lost their past 10 encounters in Perth, with their last victory coming back in round 11, 2004 against the Dockers.

Only Jared Rivers, Brad Green and Aaron Davey remain from that side, but midfielder Nathan Jones said the new breed of Demons were desperate to start a new winning trend in Perth.

In a bid to improve their record on the road, Melbourne have tweaked their travel schedule this season, arriving at all interstate games two days before the match instead of the customary one.

The adjustment worked well in the Demons' 90-point win over Gold Coast in Brisbane in round four and Jones has his fingers crossed it will work against the Eagles.

"Because we're playing a night game there's a little bit more time to kill," Jones said on Wednesday.

"But it worked for us in Brisbane, we went up two days early and the boys got a lot out of it.

"(We were) kind of refreshed (and) adjusted to the time and weather and that type of thing.

"It was a different group that won back (in Perth) in 2004.

"Only three players from the current team are playing.

"We've had a real focus on trying to play well interstate.

"All the good teams like Collingwood travel really well and that's a big focus for us to try to perform away from home."

Jones said there were a few aspects the Demons needed to tweak in order to adapt to Patersons Stadium, which is longer but narrower than most other grounds.

"I guess with the length of the ground ... there's almost that extra 20 or 30 metres where you have to try to carry the ball and teams get caught (out) I guess," he said.

"West Coast and Fremantle both get the advantage of training of it.

"We performed reasonably well here last year when we played Fremantle - we had a super second half. So if we can carry that form through I think we'll see a really good game."

Melbourne, who sit in seventh on the table with two wins and a draw from four outings, can set up their season over the next three weeks with winnable games against Adelaide (home) and North Melbourne to follow the West Coast match.

Prized 2008 draft pick Jack Watts has tallied just 40 possessions and a goal in four games this season, but Jones backed the struggling 20-year-old to soon find his feet.

"He's a player maybe struggling for a bit of form but I can assure you he's doing everything he can," Jones said.

"He's scrutinised by the media but there's things internally where we really appreciate the stuff he's doing and the work he's doing during games that may go unnoticed.

"I think (just give it) a little bit of time and Wattsy will really shine."

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