Ben Brown’s locks might be gone, but his club’s hunger for a second Melbourne premiership in three years remains, claiming the Demons have “unfinished business” in 2023.

Brown’s trademark hairdo was chopped off on Saturday as he continued to raise funds – an organisation that supports families and children living with cancer.

Brown’s 17-year-old cousin Grace, who’s been diagnosed with leukaemia twice already in her life but is now in remission, was on-hand to help the hairdressers shave the key forward’s head.

“It’s different! I almost feel like I’ve got phantom hair and that it’s going to fly in my face at any second,” Brown told reporters. “It’s all for a good cause.

“It was strange – a feeling I’ve never had before.

Brown, who said he’s previously tried to “avoid hairdressers if I can”, has already raised over $60,000 for Challenge, with hopes that tally will eventually exceed $70,000. 

“You can only imagine what she (Grace) has been through, what her family’s been through. Thankfully she’s in remission thanks to a brand new therapy,” he said.

“Challenge has been her and her family the whole way along … Because they’ve done so much for Grace’s family, I wanted to do something to help them.”

Brown said he’d “never had it (his hair) cut so short”, adding with a laugh: “I’m just hoping the midfielders know who it is and still kick it to me.”

Those Demons midfielders showed ominous signs on Friday night as they dominated St Kilda in an unofficial match simulation hit-out at Moorabbin.

The 2021 premiers were eliminated from last year’s finals series in straight sets, losing to Sydney and Brisbane at the MCG.

Brown, who said his “body was in a great place” after making some load adjustments over the summer, said those two finals defeats had fuelled the Demons’ pre-season campaign.

“There’s always an element of unfinished business when you get bundled out of a finals series. We definitely are still feeling that, but it’s a new year and we all start at 0-0,” he said.

“We’ll be doing everything we can to prepare for Round 1 now. We took a small step forward in the match sim and we’ll look to take it in next week.

“We’ve got an experienced list and plenty of players who have played over 100 games now. When you put that kind of experience in the one side … it’s a pretty exciting line-up we’ve got this year.”