MELBOURNE'S players know they've underperformed and have taken full responsibility for a season that promised so much but delivered disappointment, according to defender Colin Garland.

The Demons take a five-game losing streak into Sunday's home encounter against Gold Coast and Garland said the players are acutely aware that good quarters or honourable losses are unacceptable.

"We're definitely taking responsibility for our performances - that's been the case all year," Garland said.

"Maybe it hasn't been seen that way publicly, but definitely internally and as a group we're taking the performances on our backs because we know it hasn't been good enough.

"As a group we address that every week. There have definitely been no punches pulled in our line reviews, especially with Todd coming on. He's pretty frank in what he expects so they've been pretty rigorous over the last couple of weeks.

"It's never a good year when you lose a coach. We came in with a lot of promise and this year hasn't been what we would have liked. It's definitely been a disappointing season."

Melbourne plays the Suns and Port Adelaide to finish off the season, after the Demons' finals hopes were snuffed in last weekend's seven-point loss to Richmond.

Garland maintained his team still has a lot to play for despite no longer being in the mix for September.

"It's obviously a different feeling from the last couple of weeks because you know that you can't make the finals," he said.

"But I think in the position we're in at the moment, we really need to go out there and perform because we know that we're still working on things. Our performances over the last couple of weeks haven't been up to scratch, so we've still got a lot to play for.

"There are things that we're working on that are controllable individually. Obviously blokes will be looking to impress in these last couple of games."

With the Demons playing the bottom two teams to round out the season, Garland said his team couldn't afford to take any opponent lightly, with a four-quarter effort a key focus.