MELBOURNE forward Matthew Bate says Friday night's loss to Essendon cut him deeper than any of the Demons previous 10 losses this season.

Having built themselves up to rebound from the Queen's Birthday thrashing at the hand of the Collingwood, the Demons, apart from a brief second-quarter flurry, were comprehensively beaten by the Bombers.

Bate says the players let themselves, fans and coaches down.

"It was a big stage and everyone's watching and everyone rates us on that," he said.

"People aren't going to rate us on that, it's that simple.

"The one thing that cuts me deep is that you feel like you're letting the coaches down.

"They give everything, and tell us how to play and provide the game plan; it's just the players who aren't applying themselves 100 per cent of the time."

Adding to the 22-year-old's frustration is the fact the side went in confident of causing an upset.

"The boys before the game were extremely positive and we had high hopes for this game. There was a lot of talk but we didn't put that talk into action," Bate said.

"I felt like we were overrunning them in the second quarter and we got a lot of confidence from that, but they came out and hit the ball harder than us in the third, and when you're on the back foot like that you don't attack the ball as hard or harder than the opposition."

In a recurring theme for the Demons, a sharp burst of football from the opposition did the damage.

This time it was the third term when the Bombers kicked seven goals to one to put the result beyond doubt.

"We know we can play competitive football and we've shown it in nearly every game this year," Bate said.

"We'll be playing well and in one quarter, or one burst, a team will just blow us out of the water. That's a concentration thing and you can't blame it on fitness because we've all had a great pre-season."