AFTER seven seasons together, Melbourne coach Mick Stinear and former captain Daisy Pearce will become opponents for the first time this weekend.

Sunday's clash between Melbourne and West Coast marks the first meeting of the two sides since Pearce took over as head coach of the Eagles in 2024.

The two former colleagues, who still chat regularly, will go head-to-head in the coaches box adding a new twist to their friendship.

"There will be an element of it that will be quite weird," Stinear told AFL.com.au ahead of the clash.

"It's still strange, when you go to draft night or functions and I'm in a Melbourne polo and Daisy's in a West Coast polo, there's still a bit of getting used to being on opposing teams."

Despite having never faced his former pupil, Stinear has been watching Pearce and her young side from afar and has noticed a shift in the Eagles side since his premiership captain took over the reins.

"From that first game, you could see Daisy's footprint on the team," Stinear said.

"It's her spirit coming through. Fast-track that forward another 12 months, it's even stronger and it's translating into wins."

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In Pearce’s first season, West Coast recorded its greatest number of victories, walking away with wins from four of its first six games before the young team fell away towards the back end of the year.

This season, the Eagles have won three of their first five, defeating Port Adelaide, St Kilda and the Gold Coast, whilst challenging Essendon and Fremantle for four quarters, eventually going down by single-digit margins.

"I feel like she's really helped that team with their belief and understanding on how to win games. You can just see their contest. They're a lot stronger and fiercer. Their younger players look to be just getting after it," Stinear said.

"[I'm] not being disrespectful to the previous coaching team, but I think the players hadn't really learnt how to win. There was an expectation that they were going to lose most weeks.

"That's a hard thing to turn around and that doesn't happen overnight. She's been able to instill a fair bit of belief and has got them playing well."

Appearing on last week's episode of the W Show, key forward Eden Zanker highlighted similarities between Pearce's game plan and the way Melbourne has played for several years.

When asked whether he'd noticed traces of his own work in Pearce's game plan, Stinear demurred, instead pointing to other influences such as Pearce's season at Geelong as a development coach within the men's program.

"I don't know if it can be linked back to me," Stinear said.

"I think Daisy's probably a product of being in the Melbourne environment. Whether that's the men's program from many years ago - she was there before I started. 

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"Daisy would have taken a lot of learnings from Geelong, too. From a game style perspective, Chris Scott and their team do things very differently.

"Watching [the Eagles] play, I do love their work in the contest. Their speed to get back to the footy, their strength over the ball, their ability to move on from mistakes and get after it. They're playing to their strengths.

"I just think what she's done well is prioritise the contest, it appears. Helping them defend but then creating an environment where they can just play. I don't think I can take any credit for that. I think she's got a really good handle on the group."

Melbourne will be looking to bounce back from its shock loss to Port Adelaide in round five, where the Demons went down by two points in their first blemish for the season.

"We were disappointed with how we performed against Port Adelaide. We knew what they were going to bring," said Stinear.

"We struggled to shift the ball from inside to outside. Over-possessed it at times. There was a lack of instruction and clarity with what we wanted to do, which we felt we had going into the game. That was more the frustration."

Melbourne will be looking to get back on the winners list this weekend and Stinear suspects that there will be an added dimension motivating his players to succeed.

"They’ll be keen to make her proud," Stinear said of Pearce.

"Our group will be keen to play well. It will almost work against her. I think they'll be keen to play well for her but it won't work in her favour."