After several weeks laying a decent foundation to rebuild the AFL club, Melbourne have yet again been reduced to rubble.
Interim coach Neil Craig admits the Demons took a huge step backwards with their uncompetitive 122-point belting by North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
It was hard to argue with him.
The Demons were held scoreless for the entire final quarter and had 16 goals to one kicked on them in the second half as North did as they liked.
But Craig says Melbourne will eventually bounce back, though it will take continued and concerted work, and perhaps more setbacks along the way to do so.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we become a hardened footy club,” Craig said after the 22.18 (150) to 4.4 (28) defeat.
“It’s just another really tough lesson that when you’re coming from where we’ve been to where we’re going … we’re not that bad on a consistent basis but we need to address it really quickly.
“Improvement is never ever a straight line.”
It was Melbourne’s 10th defeat this season by more than 10 goals, though only two have been under Craig.
The coach said he took full responsibility for the gravity of the defeat, but challenged his players to respond quickly.
The Dees’ clash with bottom side Greater Western Sydney in Sydney next weekend has now become even more of a mission critical.
“Any club can bounce back pretty quickly. But we’ve got to make sure we run to the line this year,” Craig said.
“The hardness required to do that, to stay with the season, to play the last five or six games to the best of our ability will require a characteristic which will be important to us in the future.”
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