NEIL Craig might only get to sit in the hot chair at the Melbourne Football Club for a half a season.

But what he has already made abundantly clear is that the interim coach will raise the bar considerably for as long as he is the interim coach of the Demons.

Melbourne's 35-point loss to St Kilda at the MCG might have been one of its better efforts for the season, certainly as far as the scoreboard would suggest, but Craig was having little of that. 

"We're not competitive in real terms of where the competition is," he said. "We'll keep working hard.

"We need to get our standard up. In the first quarter the contested ball was minus 17 and that's not going to get you close. We have to tidy up our execution. We're not competitive with that."

"Let's not muck around with that. We know exactly where we are."

There was some praise for the likes of Tom McDonald, who kept Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt to just three goals; young midfielder Jimmy Toumpas, who played his best game for the club; as well as Jack Watts and ruckman Jake Spencer. 

But Craig was quick to remind that the focus couldn't be solely on individual development and that team aspects of the side had to improve at the same time. One of his first acts as interim coach of the Demons after replacing Mark Neeld last Monday was to add another training session to the weekly routine. 

"The players want to get better. They want to be good. They're sick of being bad and I believe they now understand they are in charge of leading the football club and the responsibility that goes with that," he said. 

When asked whether he agreed with comments from Melbourne chief executive Peter Jackson that the club was an "impediment" for the rest of the AFL, Craig said there was a case for the affirmative.

"You could say we created it. That talk will continue and this club will continue to be ridiculed and made fun of; it will continue to be belittled until we improve our performances," he said.

"I don't like it but that's what we've got and I will accept the responsibility for those performances and we will accept the responsibility for getting out of it. We've made the bed, we need to lie in it.

"But I have some empathy for them. I care for them. But they're going to have to play some better footy for the rest of the year, because the enjoyment comes from playing fiercely competitive footy."

Craig said the emotions hadn't changed as he sat in the main chair for the first time in nearly two years since he finished up as coach of Adelaide, but said he did believe he was the right person to steer the club through the remainder of the season because of his experience with the Crows.

Whether he has the fire in the belly to continue in the long term remains to be seen. The rest of the season is as much a personal journey for Craig as it is for the players.

"I love AFL footy. It's the best competition in the world and I have always gravitated towards high performance sport. Football has been good to me as a person, so whether AFL senior coaching is still for me, it's a personal indulgence over the next 10 weeks to get some real clarity on that," he said. 

And he might have sent a subtle message to Paul Roos, the preferred choice of the Demons to coach next year, but who has yet to show signs that he wants the job.

"Whoever sits in this chair next year has to have the passion and enthusiasm to do it. It's a tough industry. But it will work itself out," Craig said.