MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin has lamented his side's inability to contain the scoring power of opposition teams, with the Demons giving up 20 goals for the second week in a row in an 18-point loss to Essendon at the MCG on Friday night. 

The Demons allowed the Cats to score 126 points in heavy rain at GMHBA Stadium last Saturday night and were cut apart by the Bombers on a warm evening in Melbourne as Essendon kicked 20.10 (130) to Melbourne's 18.4 (112).

Goodwin said the club's leaky team defence was not an issue that can be fixed overnight.

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"There's parts of our game that are unacceptable at the moment," Goodwin said after the loss to the Bombers.

"That's two weeks in a row where we've had 50 entries against and conceded 130 points. That's a phase of our game that, done well, enables you to hang in games longer. It enables you to play the game with ball in hand.

"We're just getting scored against way too easily at the moment and it's an issue for the last two weeks, potentially three and in the end that was the game."

After leading by seven points at half-time, Melbourne allowed Essendon to kick eight unanswered goals in 21 minutes and looked seemingly powerless to stop the momentum shift.

Goodwin gave an insight into the mechanics behind the club's defensive issues.

"We're getting beaten at each end of the ground, there's no question about that," he said.

"The groundball inside our forward 50 we were down by 13 and similar down the back end, we were still in the negative down there.

"If you lose that (stat) at both ends of the ground you're going to be easy to score against, so we've got some work to do in that phase of the game because it's nowhere near the level of what's required."

WATCH Simon Goodwin's full post-match media conference

Goodwin said it would take a total buy-in from everyone at the club to turn around a 0-3 start to the season ahead of a trip to Sydney to face the Swans at the SCG next Thursday night.

The Demons coach said he felt for Melbourne fans after a pre-season full of promise on the back of a preliminary final last year.

"I'm hurting as a coach, for where we sit at 0-3. Our players are hurting, our staff are hurting and I know our supporters are hurting," Goodwin said.

"My message for them is we're going to keep going, keep improving. There's 19 games to go, we've just got to try to find a way to get ourselves into some good form.

"And it's as simple as that. There's nothing that's going to turn it around but hard work and continually look at how we can get better."

Forward Tom McDonald (ankle) has pulled up "sore" and will be assessed during the week, while defender Neville Jetta is fine despite copping several heavy hits through the game.

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Goodwin said the Demons would look at whether playing an extra tall, either Braydon Preuss or Declan Keilty, in attack would benefit his side's inconsistent forward mix.

Ironically, the Demons booted six goals in a row in the second term when McDonald was off injured and then moved onto the wing, as a smaller and more nimble forward line showed that it can be dangerous.