Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley is savouring 12 hours of respite before the build-up starts to one of the AFL games of the season.

Sunday night's 64-point win over lowly Melbourne at Telstra Dome, 19.12 (126) to 9.8 (62), means the Kangaroos are now a game clear in second spot.

They play Hawthorn, the previous second-placed side, next Sunday at Launceston.

It is effectively an "eight-point" match for the two sides. The Kangaroos can go two games clear of a top-four rival, while the Hawks must win to solidify their spot high up the ladder.

When asked about the massive nature of next Sunday, Laidley replied: "Can I just wait until tomorrow afternoon to start thinking about that? - but it will be, absolutely.

"I spoke to the players after the game about (how) you've got to enjoy the moment," he said.

"They've worked pretty hard tonight. They need a little bit of downtime and I want them to think tonight that they've worked hard, because they're in second spot.

"But that probably doesn't mean much, as of tomorrow afternoon about two o'clock."

It was a complete performance from the 'Roos and gave them a much-needed percentage boost in the run to the finals.

Midfielder Brent Harvey was again outstanding and Corey Jones kicked four goals.

In his fourth game, 20-year-old Demons forward Michael Newton gave the club a rare highlight when he took a strong contender for mark of the season.

He soared over his captain David Neitz for the "specky" and finished the game with two goals.

Russell Robertson also kicked two in his 200th game, but finished the match with a sore knee.

"It was a pretty ordinary performance by us - no hiding behind injuries or youth policies or whatever," said caretaker coach Mark Riley.

"They just didn't play at the acceptable AFL intensity and we didn't have the acceptable AFL workrate.

"The Kangaroos were fantastic - we learnt a lot from their work ethic, from their defensive disciplines, their defensive spread running, their offensive spread running - they're playing very, very good team-oriented footy.

"We can learn from what they did at the end of last year and their pre-season program, how hard they trained and the work they did on their tackling - we couldn't break a tackle tonight."

The Kangaroos made an early start to their pre-season program last year, with key players having surgery before the end of the season.

Melbourne players Adem Yze, Jared Rivers, Matthew Whelan and Clint Bartram have done likewise.

"We've had guys whose seasons were cooked and we've put them out to pasture and they've had their operations," Riley said.

Demon Simon Godfrey is on report for his front-on contact with Scott McMahon early in the third term.

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