AFTER another difficult day at the office, interim Melbourne coach Neil Craig admitted the next Demons coach will need an "enormous amount of patience".
Also lamenting his team's poor discipline at AAMI Stadium against Adelaide on Saturday, Craig said the next Melbourne coach faced a difficult task.
The Demons scrapped hard against the Crows, especially early, but the margin blew out to beyond 11 goals by the final siren, leaving Craig to admit the Demons were a long way off where they needed to be.
While he's refused to confirm whether he'd put his hand up for the full-time role, Craig said the person the club chose had their work cut out for them.
"From a coaching perspective it's going to need an enormous amount of patience and it certainly won't be for the faint-hearted," Craig said.
"Whoever's coaching the side [over the summer] will need to make use of absolutely every bit of time that's available ... you can't waste a minute when you're at where we're at."
The Demons gave away 25 free kicks to Adelaide's 11 for the afternoon, including several that were a long way from the play that resulted in opposition goals.
Nothing exemplified Melbourne's lack of discipline on Saturday like the 50m penalty defender Tom McDonald gave away late in the third term.
The Crows' six-goal forward Lewis Johnston marked cleanly before McDonald punched the ball from his hands.
He then failed to man the mark as Johnston slammed home the major.
Craig said the incident was out of character for McDonald, but showed the frustration of the players.
"That's really unusual for Tom McDonald … he's one of our most disciplined players, so it probably says something that's going through their psyche at the moment, the frustration of enormous effort for little return," he said.
Craig was able to turn Adelaide's fortunes around quickly when he took over from Gary Ayres - the club finished 12th in his first year as senior coach, but took out the minor premiership the following year and finished second in 2005.
But he conceded a similar turnaround wouldn't be possible at Melbourne.
Even if Craig did coach the club next year, he said the talent on Adelaide's list when he took over was lacking at the Demons.
"The quality of players that were in that squad, (Mark) Ricciuto, (Simon) Goodwin, (Andrew) McLeod, (Tyson) Edwards, Benny Hart – there was a lot of quality in that squad," he said.
"We are a long way away as a total footy club."
The major injury concern out of the game for Melbourne was David Rodan's left ankle.
The veteran midfielder was subbed out of the game at quarter-time after suffering what Craig described simply as a "bad ankle".
Rodan appeared in incredible pain and was carried from the ground, unable to put any weight on his left leg.
The club was unsure exactly what he had done, but said he would have scans early next week.
