COLLINGULLIE-Glenfield Park small forward Ed Perryman had to play above his weight last year, but he's relishing being the third or fourth wheel in the Demons' revamped forward line.
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The 21-year-old was forced to play out of the goal square at times last year due to their lack of tall options, but the arrival of key forwards Sam Stening and Andrew Clifford has allowed him to unleash the shackles.
Perryman booted five goals in last week's win over Wagga Tigers and improve his season tally to 15, behind only teammate Stening (19), Turvey Park's Baxter Wallett (21) and GGGM's George Alexander (24).
"I was playing full forward a lot last year as we didn't have any talls," Perryman said.
"It's handy taking the third or fourth best defender. I've really enjoyed that."
The Tigers win was a solid enough bounce back after the Demons suffered their first loss of the year against the unbeaten Lions, where they gave up a 19 point final quarter lead.
They have a chance to show they deserve to be considered GGGM's biggest threats when they host fellow flag aspirants Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes at Crossroads Oval on Saturday.
Perryman said finding the right mix in their forward line is still a work in progress, but they may have found the right recipe against the Tigers.
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Clifford moved down the ground a lot more as a hit-up forward, which freed up Perryman and Stening (three goals).
"It was good to get on a bigger ground (Robertson Oval) because Collingullie's a pretty small ground, and so is Ganmain," Perryman said.
"I don't think we worked well together in the first half, but we did in the second and made space for each other.
"He (Clifford) tried to get up a bit higher today and that was his best game of the year by a mile. He tried to hit up more at the ball, and he was unreal.
"We learned a lot out of that game (at Ganmain). They're the benchmark and we took a lot of lessons on how to close out a game.
"We just ran out of legs and hopefully we bounce back next time we play them."
The Demons will be wary of the threat Goannas full forward Trent Castles poses after he kicked 11 goals in his return from a calf injury in last week's win over Narrandera.
Castles kicked eight goals in the Goannas' win over the Demons at Mangoplah late last season.
"He's obviously going to be a focal point for them. I think he kicked eight or nine against us last year and they're an arch rival of ours," Perryman said.
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