TOUGH-NUT Melbourne midfielder Nathan Jones believes his side's skill errors ultimately cost the Demons a come-from-behind win over North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

Jones, who won 26 disposals against the Roos and labelled his form as "just okay", put his hand up as one of the players who contributed to the clangers.

"Like the whole side, poor skill errors probably cost us and I was a culprit," Jones said at the Junction Oval on Monday.

"It was a pretty disappointing first quarter from the boys. The Kangas came out flying, but after that, we worked ourselves back into the game and it was pretty positive after quarter time.

"At three quarter-time, we might have been five goals down and we spoke about if we could get a bit of momentum and kick the first few goals, we'd be right back in it and we got the margin back to 19 points. They slowed the tempo and we weren't good enough to win the footy back and they hung on for a good win."

Despite the loss, Jones said the Demons were able to find some positives.

"The boys really lifted their intensity and work-rate and it showed on the scoreboard and after quarter-time, we actually won overall by eight points over those three quarters," Jones said.

Jones, who is an integral part of Melbourne's long-term plans, said his form had been a "little bit up and down" this season.

"[I've had] new experiences in being tagged this year, after having a reasonably good year last year and it's been another learning year for me and I'm just trying to grow my footy week by week," Jones said.

"It's been a little bit tougher without Jimmy McDonald, Brock [McLean] and Brent Moloney, but there are other positives out of it and we've been able to expose younger players like Shane Valenti, who had a pretty good game on the weekend and Simon Buckley – those blokes have really stepped up and have gained valuable experience."

Meanwhille, Jones said the departure of chief executive Paul McNamee last week did not distract the playing group.

"Not at all really – the footy club is just left to play footy and for me personally, that outside stuff is just left to the board and the administration and the boys just go out and focus on the footy, week-by-week," Jones said.