Bernie Vince believes history will count for nothing on Sunday, as the Demons look to break an 11-game losing streak against North Melbourne.

When the sides last met, the Kangaroos saluted by 122 points. But it’s a whole new ball game this time around.  

“As a new player coming to the club, I’ve tried to forget about all our past records, because coming up against Essendon, there was a 149-point turnaround, so that got us up by one-point,” Vince said on Friday.

“I think this week has to be a 123-point turnaround, so why not? We’ll do it two weeks in a row.

“That’s one thing Roosy (Paul Roos) has tried to bring in – he’s tried to put the past behind us. I wasn’t part of it, so I’ve certainly put it behind me.”

Melbourne will look to defy more history at the MCG, aiming for back-to-back victories for the first time since 2011. It’s a challenge its players are happy to embrace.

“We believe we can beat anyone now. We’ve proven we can match it with sides for long periods of time.

“This is the week that we really feel we’ve got an opportunity to do that and come out and win two in a row, but there’s a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge first.”

Despite going in with confidence, Vince and his team-mates are more than aware of North’s capabilities.

“We just plan for them to turn up with their best footy and combat it that way, but their best is very good. We’re going to have to be right on our game,” he added.

“They’re a very offensive team. In some of the games I’ve watched, they love that outside run and they’ve got some really good runners and they’re a highly-skilled side.

“We hope it’s a little bit wet and a little bit windy and they can’t hit those targets, but certainly we’re going to have our work cut out and we’re going to have to win our inside ball.

“Tackles and contested ball is going to be really important for us this week against a side that is a high-scoring team.”

Demons’ captain Nathan Jones echoed the thoughts of his midfield counterpart.

“North is coming off a game where they’d be pretty disappointed about their performance last week, so we’ve really got to understand where they’re coming from,” he told the club’s website.

“I think they’re going to be pretty fired up to rectify their performance.”

Melbourne will go in with an unchanged lineup following its victory against Essendon.