MELBOURNE duo Christian Salem and Angus Brayshaw have been ruled out of Saturday's clash with Gold Coast due to concussion.

Salem was involved in a head clash in last Saturday's 39-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

He came off in the third term and sat the remainder of the game on the bench. The Demons have ruled him out of the trip to Metricon Stadium after he struggled with concussion symptoms on Wednesday.

Brayshaw was also still suffering symptoms on Wednesday from an incident in Casey's VFL game against Essendon at Windy Hill on Sunday.

Brayshaw copped a football in the back of the head that was kicked by teammate Alex Neal-Bullen.

Demons elite performance manager Dave Misson said both men would need another week to recover from their respective concussions.

"Both of those guys haven't quite come up this week," Misson told melbournefc.com.au.

"Gus was a day later than Christian.

"He had a pretty solid hit to the head with the footy and is still symptomatic today (Wednesday).

"Christian was touch-and-go and had a run today, but he still had some recurring symptoms. They're two young guys and we want to set them up for a good season, so we've ruled them out already."

Luck changing for Trengove on road to return

Experienced key forward Chris Dawes is set to play his first game of the season this week in the VFL after recovering from his ongoing calf issue.

"Dawesy's been through an extended rehab and his attitude's been first-class during the whole rehab," Misson said.

"He's been touch-and-go for a couple of weeks. But we just wanted to really tick every box and make sure he's got enough training minutes in him.

"He's champing at the bit to get out there and we really hope he goes from strength to strength after this week."

Dawes has not played for the Demons since round 21 last season.