MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says great responsibility lies with his hastily-reconstructed forward line.

In the last couple of weeks the Dees have lost their two forward pillars of the last decade, with David Neitz retiring and Russell Robertson copping a season-ending achilles injury.

Bailey said the omissions created opportunities for other players to show their stuff.

"When you lose David and Russell – two prominent forwards, traditional goal-kickers and two really good competitors for us – I think it'll give us an opportunity to be a bit flexible up there, as well," he said.

"We've got to be. We've got (Matthew) Bate and (Brad) Miller and (Colin) Sylvia, obviously Paul Johnson now, and when you take two key targets who aren't going to be there, it means that we're going to have other key targets.

"And there's going to be great responsibility on those guys I've just mentioned to kick goals. I don't expect one of them to kick 10, I expect there to be a good spread, but we need to be a little bit inventive and a bit innovative on the weekend.

"We think we've got four or five players who are at the level who can mark the ball well in the forward line, but without having two real strong key players up there, we're going to have to spread the load.

"(Austin) Wonaeamirri has given us a really good crumber in the forward line as well, so it's not only marking the ball."