MELBOURNE suffered its seventh defeat in eight weeks and its fifth in a row on Sunday, but coach Paul Roos says its three-point loss to Port Adelaide was "a massive step forward".

The Demons entered Sunday's challenge having lost by at least 10 goals in their previous two games and Roos said the game could have ended in another blowout when they trailed by 30 points halfway through the second term.

But an inspired third quarter saw them fight their way back into the contest, before doing so again in the final term.

A lack of composure at critical times proved the difference, Roos said.

"It's a massive step forward for us as a footy club, there's no question," he said.

"That’s the sort of standard we want to try and set.

"Neville Jetta got a free kick and played on, at that stage of the game we were four points up – you don't need to be taking advantage in that situation.

"They're the little things in the game that, in the end, just really cost us.

"A lot of those sorts of things have been swept under the carpet in the past couple of years because instead of losing by 100 you might have lost by 94 … the positive is we're now talking about those and their impact in the game because we're close enough at the end to discuss them."

Roos didn't see the contentious free kick awarded to the Power's Chad Wingard on the stroke of three-quarter time because he was on his way down to the ground.

Demons' defender Jack Watts appeared to make contact with the ball before any was made with Wingard, who put his side into the lead at the final break by converting the free kick.

Although Roos missed the incident, he offered a pragmatic view of the umpiring on Sunday.

"I got a dozen text messages [about the Wingard decision] so I'll have a close look at it," he said.

"It is what it is. I keep saying that about the umpires – it is what it is and you just put up with it."