The Dogs have lost every game since their round one win against the Brisbane Lions, and have won just one game from their past 19.
Pressure is building on the club and the coach admits the current predicament has riled the players.
"They're frustrated. You go through different emotions after a loss," McCartney said on Wednesday.
"There's annoyance, there's a bit of anger, and as a player or a coach you generally then reflect on what you contributed, either good or bad for the day."
McCartney admits the coaches had to accept some of the blame, after the Dogs fell away in the third quarter against the Suns.
"We know we didn't have a great five minutes in the box in the third quarter," McCartney said.
"We probably didn't have a great five minutes communicating our messages out on the ground to one another through the runners and player-to-player. We didn't have a great five minutes as a playing group."
"It was really costly. We understand what happened in that little patch, but it probably shouldn't have been as catastrophic, because we should have been able to play much, much better in the first half."
Despite their poor results, and the increased media pressure on both the club and McCartney, it's business as usual at the Whitten Oval.
"I got to work at the same time on Monday. I've still done my corporate commitments this week. We've reviewed the game similarly. I don't think I change too much. I don't think when we won games last year I was too much different either."
"We know where we're at, and we know that we've got a lot of work in front of us."
The Dogs take on St Kilda this week, a side McCartney likens to his own, with a similar mix of old and young players.
"They've probably got some frustrations similar to us at times," McCartney said.
"To be honest both clubs are probably at an identical stage. They're introducing up to ten or twelve youngsters into their senior team."
