THE DEMONS have dropped their second match of 2022, just seven days after their first.

And the group is well aware that it is going to take some hard work to get the season back on track.

“The overarching theme of it was we’re in the middle of an AFL season and we’ve got to bunker down now,” Jack Viney told Melbourne Media post-game.

“Coming off the back of playing two quality teams, especially around the contest, which we’ve been beaten up for a couple of weeks now.

“Especially on turnover as well, they scored significantly higher than what we did.

“Lots of areas to get better in, but it’s about getting back on the tools.

On the back of a five-goal-to-one first term, Melbourne led for 83 of the 106 minutes on Saturday night, but relinquished it when it mattered most.

The Swans stole all the momentum in the second half, which Viney found difficult to get back.

“We got off to a good start, but good teams will do that – they’ll wrestle back momentum,” he said.

“We struggled to really find strong momentum for the rest of the game.

“It was a fierce contest and they were probably a bit stronger than us around those contest areas.”

As a result of the momentum shift, Sydney was able to hit the scoreboard, kicking 23 scores from just 51 inside 50s.

And while the Dees have been the best defensive side in the competition this year, they still have room to grow.

“Sydney have been an efficient forward line all year, so we knew going in this week that they’re dangerous when they get inside 50s,” Viney said.

“They can score really well, so we were trying to not let them get the inside 50s, we tried to keep it in our forward half, but we weren’t able to do it.

“We’ll watch some vision and see how we can improve for the next game.”

The Demons’ back-to-back losses give them an opportunity to pick apart their game, but Viney is pretty keen to make sure these harsh lessons aren’t too regular.

“There’s obviously going to be some clear learnings coming out of this game,” he said.

“Losing two in a row, we’re certainly not walking away from these losses happy in any regard.

“We’re extremely disappointed – we know we’re better and we need to get back to training and come up with some clear solutions for Collingwood.”

Hear more from Viney in the post-match interview below.