MELBOURNE coach Steven King has blamed his side's inability to capitalise on field position and a poor offensive contest for his side's 19-point loss to Carlton in Saturday night's wildcard final at the MCG.

The Demons got off to a rollicking start against the Blues, kicking four straight goals to start the night and take an 18-point lead into the first change.

DEMONS v BLUES Full match coverage and stats

But King's side managed just three goals and 13 behinds after that initial burst, leaving the coach to lament what could have been.

Superstar Kysaiah Pickett finished the evening with six shots on goal and just three behinds to his name, which King said was "a bit symbolic of the game".

"Carlton were really good tonight and played a really good brand of footy," King said.

"We had some momentum and we were unable to really punish them and put that ascendancy on the scoreboard, even late.

"Not just Kozzy, but there's a few opportunities for us. We just didn't take our chances, which you need to do in finals, obviously.

"We knew we weren't going to stop them marking the footy. That's what they're after. And I think for a while there it looked okay, but ultimately they got on top of us.

"And I think when your method's not as strong as what you plan going in, it always looks a bit worse, especially late in the game."

The Demons' key forward stocks were low with Jacob van Rooyen serving the second match of his three-game suspension, while young Matthew Jefferson missed due to a knee hyperextension.

King acknowledged that there was "probably a few players we would have loved to have had available tonight" but put that down to the "war of attrition of a long season" and reiterated he had confidence in the team he selected.

That included the retiring Jake Melksham returning to the side, alongside fellow retiree Tom McDonald playing a role up forward for most of the match, and vice-captain Jack Viney coming in for his first game of the season after battling Achilles and back issues.

Ultimately, the Demons' first-year coach cut a reflective figure, using his post-game address to look back on his first 12 months as senior coach after an off-season of upheaval.

"I think (if) you tell me at the start of the year (that) we'll go from seven wins to 15, I'd sign up for that every day of the week," he said.

"So I don't want to get too greedy and look back too much, but I know we've got so much more to add in different phases of our game and that's the exciting part for me as a coach."

King said the club had been able to "reinstate a bit of respect, both on field, off field (and) play a brand of footy that our supporters should be proud of".

"The players themselves, how they've adapted to a new way of playing, I couldn't be more proud of them for what they've done," he said.

"So there's disappointment in tonight, obviously, but we'll sort of let it settle. But I think on the whole, (there is) just a sense of pride for me, for what they've done and and I think how they've re-engaged our supporter base around ... really loving watching them play footy again.

"We've got a lot of work to do as a footy club and as a team and as a group of individuals. We're not shying away from that, but we're only just at the start. We're not at our finished product yet."