Co-captain Jack Grimes said on Wednesday many players had worn the harsh comments, and they had moved on quickly to ensure they rebounded in round two.
He said each player had to take responsibility for his own urgency, competitiveness and desire to stay in the game.
Grimes was shattered as he played out the last quarter on Sunday, trying to concentrate on his role and bring some respectability back into the result.
But it was all to no avail as the Demons fell by 79 points, and he could understand why many supporters expressed their frustration as the team left the ground.
Grimes said the disintegration under pressure was due to the side's inability to stand up mentally when the game turned against it early.
"We weren't competitive enough and we weren't urgent enough," he said.
Last year's best and fairest winner Nathan Jones said the group accepted the criticism of its supporters but it was now beginning to focus on gaining some redemption this week against Essendon.
He said the performance in no way reflected the Demons' efforts on the training track in the pre-season, but admitted their opponents were more prepared mentally when the ball was bounced last Sunday.
"It put us on the back foot from the first minute and we didn't respond and didn't bounce back from that which is really disappointing," Jones said.
Jones said the team needed all 22 players to stand up and take some responsibility for their own individual performances.
He and Grimes paid credit to the efforts of first gamers Jack Viney and Matt Jones, who were among the club's best players, and said it was a sign they had attacked the game with the right intensity.
Jones said it was up to others to take the same approach into games for the rest of the season.
"A lot of players would feel very disappointed and it's hard to explain why each individual did not perform on the day, but I guess those younger players came in and the expectation was that they would perform and they did that really well."
Jones said the result had not dented his confidence in the direction the club was going and that consistency of training was the first step towards consistency of performance.
"There has been significant improvement, but that hasn't obviously publicly outlaid itself in our performances in a game."
Nathan Jones is a midfielder in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 88.62 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub.
Peter Ryan covers Melbourne and Collingwood news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_petryan
