Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin is hopeful star Christian Petracca will shake off a calf injury in time for next week’s semi-final against Brisbane.
Sydney continued their recent record against the Demons, locking in a home preliminary final after taking down last year’s premiers at the MCG by 22 points.
Petracca struggled for much of the final, appearing visibly hampered during his 24-disposal game.
Goodwin said the Norm Smith medallist was “pretty sore” after the match, but was confident he would be right to go ahead of the cut-throat semi-final against the Lions.
"He got a pretty significant kick from (Lance Franklin) just below the knee in the calf (during the match)," he said post-match.
“He's just got a contusion that we'll assess through the week, but he was pretty sore.
"Clearly, it limited his movement for the majority of the night. It had a bit of an impact on his game. But he'll get that right, reset and hopefully be all-clear and ready to go next week."
Melbourne could look to bring in Tom McDonald for the semi-final, after he make his long-awaited return from a foot injury in the VFL last weekend.
Jake Melksham, who has impressed in the second of the year, was held to just five disposals and two behinds and looms as the man most likely to make way for McDonald.