THE HEADLINES of the week may have been fixed on a sacked coach, an ill president and a former captain returning to the club to help, but Melbourne captain Brad Green says the players did not get it easy in the wake of their epic 186-point thrashing by Geelong last Saturday.

Green, 30, said those involved in the massive defeat were heavily criticised throughout the week, despite the focus on Bailey and the appointment of Garry Lyon as a consultant.

He also revealed he hadn't lost confidence in his leadership abilities, which were questioned by game great Leigh Matthews in his afl.com.au column on Wednesday.

"Internally, there were certainly some harsh words and we have to be open and honest with each other," Green said after the Demons' 76-point loss to Carlton on Saturday at the MCG.

"I think whenever you put in a performance like we did last week as a playing group, the leadership gets put on us and me as captain.

"We get on with the week, tried to galvanise the group as quick as we could on Monday and we had to quickly get on with this week because we had a game of footy seven days later."

Green described the past seven days as some of the "toughest" he had been involved in throughout his career, which began in 2000.

"There were some sleepless nights there earlier in the week, even just going through the performance, let alone getting a coach sacked," he said.

"When the two of those crash like a train wreck, it was a tough start to the week.

"It was certainly the toughest week I've been involved in in my 12 years."

He said he had not considered how harsh and swift the ramifications of last week's loss could have been as he stood in the change rooms of Skilled Stadium directly after the Geelong match.

He also believed the group had responded against the Blues, despite the overall defeat that was caused by an eight-goal-to-none second quarter.

"I was just shattered with the way we played last week and that's all I was thinking about. I didn't think of anything else," he said.

"I thought a lot of our guys responded. It's been a tough week for a lot of them, especially when you've got a young team and you go through a week like they've been. I thought the united approach the boys took was great.

"There's some resilient guys there, and we've got a good group going forward, which is promising."

Green said he had kept in touch with Bailey and would endeavour to meet up with him in the coming days.

"I've had a couple of text messages and we'll probably catch up for a coffee next week," he said.

"I just haven't done that this week but I saw him after the press conference and we had a chat.

"I totally feel sorry for the guy. The playing group loved him, he was a great man, but them's the breaks when you're out of contract and you get done by 32 goals."