Veteran Melbourne ruckman Jeff White should know whether he will be playing on for another AFL season with the Demons shortly.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said the club would begin looking at the player list for 2009 next week - and White's future will be carefully considered.

White, 31, last played in round 13 and has been unable to break back into the side due to poor form, even despite Melbourne being last on the ladder with only two wins for the season.

"We haven't really discussed it to any great length to the moment, I think we'll probably start to discuss those sorts of things next week," Bailey said.

"To be fair to those players on our list we need to ensure that the direction we take, we let them know as soon as we can.

"We'll be doing that before the season's finished - we need to be fair to them so they can get on and prepare for their life after footy or life with us again next year."

Bailey would not indicate whether White was likely to be part of the side's 2009 campaign.

"Jeff's a very professional player. Jeff trains very well ... he's not in the team at the moment but you never know down the track," he said.

The Demons meet Essendon at the MCG on Saturday and Bailey said the key was to get off to a good start, in contrast to last week's opening against North Melbourne.

"I expect us to attack the game, I expect us to really take it up to Essendon," he said.

"We have to do that because our last game we started really poorly. We have to start well, there's no greyness in it, so there'll be pressure in it."

While Melbourne have endured a wretched season, Bailey said morale remained high, in large part due to the enthusiasm of young players drafted in after injury and form issues.

"We're getting some good game time into our younger players and that adds to a little bit of excitement too," he said.

"The young guys at times I think have inspired some of our older and more experienced players.

"Morale's been good, it hasn't really wavered.

"I think it's a good sign, we just need to get a couple of wins," Bailey said.

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