First-year Demons coach Paul Roos has been severely hamstrung in the early days of his tenure due to the absences of key forward trio Mitch Clark (personal reasons), Chris Dawes (calf) and Jesse Hogan (back).
It has left Roos searching for answers, a problem which was stark for all to see in last week's 93-point loss to a vertically blessed West Coast outfit.
The Melbourne coach pledged to shake things up this week and he did that by putting James Frawley and Lynden Dunn into a remodelled forward line.
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It is early days, but Dunn responded with two goals in a decent performance, while Frawley also provided a contest and kicked one goal, just the fourth of his 121-game career.
"We haven't had any forward-of-the-ball structure with the key talls out, so we had to do something different today with Dunn and Frawley," Roos said following the 10.19 (79) to 7.5 (47) defeat.
"Obviously we lost the game, but defensively we had nine or 10 goals scored against us (compared to 18 last week), so we weren't too bad.
"Forward of the ball at least we had some shape and some targets to go to.
"From that point of view we did look a lot better. Guys went forward with a lot more confidence at times."
The Demons had a poor first half, kicking just one goal, but managed to get in front late in the third quarter.
From there the Giants responded and ultimately recorded a comfortable win, but there at least seemed to be improvement from Melbourne compared to last week's mauling.
Roos, however, wasn't initially sure about progress. All he knew for a fact was his side had lost for the third time in as many attempts.
"It's hard to tell really," he said.
"As a group, we've just got to continue to get better and understand what is AFL footy.
"We have to make sure we lift those standards and move forward in that direction.
"Is it a step forward or step back? It's hard to tell. I don't like losing any week."
Roos clearly also isn't one for sentimentality.
Sunday represented Roos' first time coaching an AFL game back in Sydney since leaving the Swans at the end of the 2010 season.
But he wasn't taking much time to reflect on a return to the city where he guided the Swans to the drought-breaking 2005 flag.
"Look I grew up in Melbourne," he said.
"Anyone that's changed clubs, you move on pretty quick. I've enjoyed spending a couple of nights here and getting back to the house.
It is early days, but Dunn responded with two goals in a decent performance, while Frawley also provided a contest and kicked one goal, just the fourth of his 121-game career.
"We haven't had any forward-of-the-ball structure with the key talls out, so we had to do something different today with Dunn and Frawley," Roos said following the 10.19 (79) to 7.5 (47) defeat.
"Obviously we lost the game, but defensively we had nine or 10 goals scored against us (compared to 18 last week), so we weren't too bad.
"Forward of the ball at least we had some shape and some targets to go to.
"From that point of view we did look a lot better. Guys went forward with a lot more confidence at times."
The Demons had a poor first half, kicking just one goal, but managed to get in front late in the third quarter.
From there the Giants responded and ultimately recorded a comfortable win, but there at least seemed to be improvement from Melbourne compared to last week's mauling.
Roos, however, wasn't initially sure about progress. All he knew for a fact was his side had lost for the third time in as many attempts.
"It's hard to tell really," he said.
"As a group, we've just got to continue to get better and understand what is AFL footy.
"We have to make sure we lift those standards and move forward in that direction.
"Is it a step forward or step back? It's hard to tell. I don't like losing any week."
Roos clearly also isn't one for sentimentality.
Sunday represented Roos' first time coaching an AFL game back in Sydney since leaving the Swans at the end of the 2010 season.
But he wasn't taking much time to reflect on a return to the city where he guided the Swans to the drought-breaking 2005 flag.
"Look I grew up in Melbourne," he said.
"Anyone that's changed clubs, you move on pretty quick. I've enjoyed spending a couple of nights here and getting back to the house.
"But I love coaching Melbourne, I love being in Melbourne, and have fond memories of Sydney."
Twitter: @AFL_JD
