MELBOURNE captain Jack Grimes has thrown his support behind embattled coach Mark Neeld, claiming he has brought plenty of positive changes to the club.

In particular, Grimes pinpointed the team's improved training standards as a key area driven by Neeld since his arrival at the Demons.

"The amount of change that he's brought to the club for the better, it's just a totally different football club now," Grimes told SEN Radio on Monday.

"From the start he always said to us that 'the game day results will be the last thing that we will see'.

"For instance, the way we train. Not to say the way we used to train was bad or we were doing anything wrong. It's just gone to a new level. We train like I've never trained before in my life.

"It's just so much more intense, and so much more game-like.

"You can't keep training and preparing the way we do, and keep getting the results that we are. We just have total faith in what we are doing. It will turn for us."


"The training standards are a lot higher over here," Morton said late last month.

"I think there's quite a big gap at the moment. 

"But until you do change clubs, and you are involved as a player you don't really notice the changes as much."

In contrast to the continued calls for Neeld's sacking, Grimes believes the Demons need more time under their coach to see their improved training standards translate to wins.

"I don't think we've done it for long enough. We haven't had this change for a long enough period for it to be so ingrained in us that it always comes out on game day," he said.

"It's unfair, the criticism that he cops."

Grimes admits the club has worked hard to keep the morale up, despite the horrific on-field results.

"It has been tough," Grimes said.

"We're not shying away from the fact that it's been a really poor start to the year. At different times there's been different players that have struggled with it.

"We probably do a few extra get-togethers and that sort of thing to make sure that the group keeps positive going into each week."

Grimes and co-captain Jack Trengove have come under the spotlight for their performances after being awarded the leadership positions at a young age.

Before injury, Grimes was one of the club's shining lights this year, but he has revealed the burden of shouldering the captaincy was a difficult task at first.

"I was shocked, I'll be honest. When they said it, I was definitely shocked, and probably didn't think I was ready," Grimes said.

"The first few games of the year last year, it definitely took its toll. It affected my footy, I'll be honest. I was worrying about what a captain should play like, what they should be like, and thinking I had to become this great player, this great captain, because I was in the role."

Grimes will visit his surgeon on Monday as he continues his recovery from a broken collarbone, and is aiming for a return in around three weeks.