Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has conceded there is a lot of work ahead of the side after their loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday.
The Demons' inaccuracy cost them dearly after they lost to the Power (9.14) 68 to 14.9 (93), which has them reeling in 15th place, three games outside of the eight.
Melbourne has kicked more behinds than goals in nine of their 14 matches so far this year, only winning one of the nine games.
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Goodwin acknowledged that their ball movement needs to be better in the forward half amid frustration from fans after inaccuracy cost them wins against St Kilda and Collingwood in the last two weeks.
“Clearly, the way we entered the ball inside 50 wasn't to the standard it needs to be,” Goodwin stated.
“We’ve made some progress in that area, but I’m sure that frustrates our fans and supporters, it frustrates us when we had our supply, we weren’t able to maximise it.”
Goodwin challenged the coaching staff and players to improve for the rest of the season to become a consistent team, but has not given up on playing finals.
“Ultimately, our challenge is to be a really strong footy team again. It is to be more consistent in what we do week after week, and get our game to a high level, and get some of the things in our game for a period changed,” he said.
“We’ve never looked at outcome as where we want to be as a footy club. We want to look at our process, make sure we keep building.”
The Demons have the bye this week before facing Gold Coast and Adelaide away in Rounds 16 and 17.