David King believes Melbourne made a statement on Thursday night in their 64-point win over pre-round ladder-leaders Brisbane.

Coming off three consecutive losses, the Demons needed to respond and that they did, brutalising Brisbane after quarter time, kicking 14.17 to 4.7.

King believes it’s the best Melbourne has looked this year.

“It’s the best I’ve seen Melbourne play for some time. We’ve talked about them a lot this year coasting at 70 per cent, but finding themselves 10-0, then they’ve hit a massive hump,” the premiership Roo told SEN Breakfast.

“Teams are coming for them, everyone is analysing what they’re doing, teams are playing different ways against them, they’ve had all sorts of challenges come at them this year.

“I think they got to the bye and gathered and said, ‘Okay, what are we doing here Let’s get back to our absolute best. Let’s hunt the ball, let’s put the opposition under pressure they cannot handle’, and last night, once they got those two components to their absolute max, everything else fell into place.”

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King praised Melbourne vice-captain Jack Viney for his leadership and midfield dominance in Max Gawn’s absence.

“When you see Jack Viney set the standard like he did in that first half … I haven’t seen a half as brutal as that for a long time,” he said.

“They were something like +30 contested footy in a half. That’s just ridiculous. You don’t see that against top four contenders.

“It was Viney, it was Clayton Oliver. I made the comment on Wednesday night that I thought Jeremy Cameron was the best player in the competition and as soon as I said that I had 10 people tweet me ‘what about Oliver?’.

“And a matter of hours later he does that and you think wow, this is guy is getting better every time you see him.”

And if the Dees continue to play to the level we saw on Thursday night?

“I take my hat off to their midfield. If they play at that level, it’s over – if they play at that level,” King added.

“I’m not sure you can (sustain that level) long-term, but it was just brutal.”

Kane Cornes agreed, adding: “If they play like that, good luck to anyone.”

“That’s sort of been the thought for most of us this year, but the last three weeks made it interesting.

“If you get them on a bad day, then there’s an opportunity to beat them, but if they play like that, with that ferocity … and I was nervous early, there were some warning signs when Bayley Fritsch runs into an open goal and ignores the Norm Smith Medallist for the easiest walk-in goal and gets tackled from behind.

“They started slowly, so to be able to regroup after a shaky start was really impressive.

“That Viney game was unbelievable. He is the most ferocious competitor. Joel Selwood has done it for so long. Luke Hodge did it for so long. He’s in that category I reckon.”

King agreed, equal in praise for the 28-year-old.

“It’s a good call. He sets standards … only certain players in the competition can go to that level,” he replied.

Melbourne travels to South Australia to take on Adelaide next weekend – a team that beat them last year.