MELBOURNE players have backed their coach and are prepared to "find out who cares about the place" after arriving for recovery following  Saturday night’s 148-point loss to Essendon.

Having suffered their second humiliation in as many weeks, the mood was grim but the message was united, at least on the surface.

"As a group we’ve really got to stick together and find out who cares about the place," defender Colin Garland told reporters on Sunday morning.  

"There’s just no excuse for the way blokes are performing out on the ground, it’s as simple as that."

Garland denied Melbourne's culture was to blame.

"The culture’s totally different to what it has been in the past, it’s a totally new group, there’s 14 new players at the club this year, there’s no lingering cultural issues at the club at all," he said.

Jones shellshocked after Dons defeat

Despite Mark Neeld's horror start as senior coach of the Demons, the players are backing their under-fire mentor.

"We’re 100 per cent behind Neeldy, we’re just in a tough spot at the moment, hopefully we can get out of it," midfielder Sam Blease said.  

That sentiment was supported by big-man Mitch Clark.

"We want to play for Neeldy, we love having Neeldy here, we’re in this together. It’s not just Neeldy - Neeldy’s not out there on the ground," Clark said.

In fact Clark insists it’s the players, not the coach and certainly not the chief executive or the board, who have to take responsibility for Melbourne's insipid start to the season.

Listen to Mitch Clark and Colin Garland speak on Sunday:

listen to ‘Demons ask 'who cares?'’ on Audioboo


"They’re not out on the ground in a 150-point loss so it’s hard to see how that’s their fault … we’re in a performance-based industry and the players aren’t performing at the moment so we take responsibility," he said.

Matt Thompson is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter @MattThompsonAFL