MELBOURNE'S third consecutive defeat on Sunday threatens to derail the Demons' season, but coach Simon Goodwin has restated his unwavering belief in the team's direction.
Essendon spared Melbourne, which has gone down to Collingwood, Port Adelaide and now St Kilda in succession, from sliding outside the top eight when it outlasted North Melbourne by 17 points.
But Goodwin's men face a major test to book a first finals berth since 2006, with Geelong, Adelaide and West Coast (both interstate) and Greater Western Sydney among their opponents in the last eight rounds.
The improving Western Bulldogs are waiting after the Demons host Fremantle in Darwin on Saturday night, while they face Gold Coast at the MCG in round 20.
SAINTS HOLD ON Full match coverage and stats
Goodwin refused to speculate about finals this far out from September, but insisted "only small margins" were holding his side back.
"I understand the narrative around that," he told reporters.
"For the large part of this year, we've played some really strong footy against teams below us on the ladder, so I understand (the fans') feeling.
"We are still building ourselves into the team we want to become and we always said there would be little bumps along the way.
"We've lost three in a row, we need to start playing better, we need to get back into form – it doesn't matter who we play against – and I'm really confident as a playing group and a club, we'll be able to do that."
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Melbourne stormed into third spot with a percentage north of 140 on the back of a six-match winning streak, but it will need to reload again.
Many of the key statistics, such as contested possessions, clearances, centre clearances, inside 50s and tackles, were in the Demons' favour, but they were let down in other areas.
Poor delivery inside 50 was again a cause for concern and wasted their 62-50 advantage in their forward arc, but Goodwin was most dissatisfied with his players' efforts without the ball.
He highlighted reigning premier Richmond's performance on Thursday night as the benchmark his side needed to aim towards.
"This is part of evolving as a footy team," Goodwin said.
"We've ingrained the way we want to play around the contest, we certainly consistently get enough supply and ability to score, so now it's about how we evolve ourselves into becoming (a better) defensive team.
"Clearly our game will go to a brand new level once we get that right. I've seen our ability to do it, but it's just not ingrained yet and that's really our challenge … to become the team we want to become."
WATCH: Simon Goodwin's full post-match media conference
All Australian ruck contender Max Gawn was Melbourne's clear standout with his centre-bounce and aerial dominance keeping his team in the contest for much of the day.
Jack Viney won 14 of his 26 possessions in the final term, while Angus Brayshaw starred early and finished with 27 disposals and two goals and Bayley Fritsch booted four majors.
"(Gawn) was at his best. He couldn't have done much more," Goodwin said.
"He was good in the ruck, he was good around the ground, he competed strongly, he got back and helped his defence and was a really pivotal player for us on the day."
