MELBOURNE will wait until Monday to determine if skipper David Neitz needs any further medical treatment for a neck injury sustained during the Dee's 33-point loss to Carlton on Sunday.

Neitz left the MCG during the second term and didn't reappear after half time.

"He had a neck [injury]. He's had a little bit of it every now and then when he gets a stinger, but there is something in the back of his neck that hasn't really been a problem and that was the reason he sat out the rest of the game," coach Dean Bailey said.

"If he could play, let me tell you, David Neitz would play.

"He can take a fair bit of pain, the big fella, so it must be fairly serious for him not to come back on.

"Sometimes those types of things can take three of four minutes before they release and unfortunately his didn't release to a level where the docs could say he could come back on."

Bailey said there was no quick remedy for transforming his side into a competitive, winning unit after their fifth straight loss.

But when asked post-match if he was frustrated by Melbourne's plight, Bailey remained upbeat about correcting the club's situation.

"I'm here to improve. I'm here to improve the football club and I'm here to improve players," Bailey said.

"We're going to continue to look for improvement each week and I'm going to get on the training track and work hard and I've used the word competitive and we need to be competitive for longer and we're going to get it done - we are just going to get it done.

"The more opportunities we play and the more opportunities we train, we're going to knock the wall down and get there.

"The players have worked particularly hard and we've spent a lot of focus this week on our skills - we were a little bit better than last week - but they're still not good enough or acceptable enough and we've got to keep working at it.

"There is no other quick remedy around the corner - it's head down, work hard and get a fit list and see what we've got."

Bailey was pressed on a timeframe for turning Melbourne around, but he was adamant the process was an ongoing reality. 

"The timeframe or the date or the minute or the hour - it starts after this game with recovery, then it starts on Monday when we review the game and then Tuesday when we get back to our development class, where we look at kicking and handballing, and it's those things we need to continually work on, so we work on them all of the time," Bailey said.

"To give you an exact date of when it's going to start or finish - as long as we're improving and as long as we're putting the time into it - the improvement will come and we intend to put a lot of time into it."

Focusing on the defeat, Bailey said he was disappointed his side let a positive second quarter start fade away, which resulted in seven unanswered goals from the Blues.

"The brief wind we had in our sail was taken out of us," Bailey said.

"We kicked the first three [goals] in the second term, so we hit the front, so for a brief period there we thought the game had just started to change and we had some control of it and then a couple of undisciplined things and they get a run on and all of a sudden, we're behind the eight-ball again."

Bailey, who praised young defender James Frawley, also spoke highly of Brock McLean's effort to run with Carlton skipper Chris Judd.

"I thought McLean's work rate was outstanding today. Brock has been at a high level now for three or four weeks and Brock has worked particularly hard and it was a good challenge for him today," Bailey said.

"Judd only needs one or two bursts to make an impact, but I thought McLean was pretty good."

Meanwhile, Bailey made a passionate plea to the red and blue faithful for their "understanding and persistence through this tough time".

"I think it's great that we actually had Melbourne people come today - Melbourne members and supporters come today," Bailey said.

"It's important that they continue to support us and there is no doubt that we not only need their support, but we need their assistance and we need members and we need people coming to the game.

"It was great that they attended today and we need you to stick with us, because it is tough times, but through tough times there are blue skies coming and we're heading towards it, so we need Melbourne people to continue to support the club."