SIMON Goodwin wants his Demons "to get grumpy and get better", in the wake of their 80-point loss to Geelong on Saturday night.
But Melbourne's task of getting its season back on track is going to become more difficult with gun defender Steven May likely to be sidelined for at least Friday night's clash with Essendon due to a groin strain.
May will be sent for scans after sitting out the final quarter of Saturday night's 80-point loss to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, as the Demons went to 0-2 on the season.
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"We'll have a look at that and he'll get some scans," Goodwin said of May.
"We don't know the extent of it. He'd be doubtful for this week, obviously he didn't finish out the game and we'll see where that lobs on Monday.
"It was relatively early in the game and he got some work done on it and came back onto the ground and didn't feel like he had any power, so we ended up putting him out for the game."
WATCH Simon Goodwin's full post-match press conference
An 80-point loss to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium is not pretty any way you look at it, and Goodwin acknowledged as much.
"We're certainly not putting excuses around that but we're certainly trying to get continuity with our players," Goodwin said.
"Yep, we haven't had the ideal continuity and maybe that's leading to a lack of connection but we'll keep working at that.
"To be 0-2 is disappointing for us as a club. We want to be better, we don't want to be losing by 80 points. It's not acceptable for where we want to go and what we want to achieve.
"We've got to get grumpy and get better."
The Demons coach is not as downcast as the result might suggest he should be.
Improving the connection between midfield and forward is at the top of Goodwin's room for improvement list, with the Demons kicking just six goals despite clearly winning the inside 50 count (72-48) against the Cats.
"We moved forward a bit this week (compared to last week) but the scoreboard didn't reflect it. We're incredibly disappointed to be at 0-2, losing by 80 points," Goodwin said.
"But there's 20 games to go so we're going to keep fighting, we're going to keep working.
"If we have 71 entries next week and connect better the scoreboard will look a lot different."
That focus on midfield-forward connection starts on the training track this week, but the Demons believe they took some significant strides forward in regard to playing the type of football that resembles their brand – winning contested football and playing the game in their forward half.
"I think we got it back in the last three quarters in some areas. We've got to do it at each end of the ground but the intent's there. Some of our technical elements need to get better but we ended up getting beaten early," Goodwin said.
"That cost us on the scoreboard and then we're chasing our tail, but our DNA is coming back… obviously the scoreboard didn't reflect it tonight."
Goodwin mentioned Braydon Preuss, Declan Keilty, Billy Stretch and Corey Wagner as players pressing their claims in the VFL, with Marty Hore the carryover emergency for Saturday night's game.
