LEADER Nathan Jones says Thursday night’s loss to West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium was one of the worst he's been associated with at Melbourne.

Speaking shortly after Melbourne’s 54-point loss, Jones was strong with his words, when assessing his team’s performance.  

“At the moment, with emotions running high, it’s probably one of the worst losses I’ve played in,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Expectation is greater and we aren’t really delivering on what we should.

“It’s back to the drawing board, because it was a poor effort we put out.”

Jones said there was “extreme disappointment” among the rest of the players.

“This is the worst feeling you can have, when you felt like you prepared really well and then you have a result like that - it’s really deflating,” he said.

“There will be some real home truths come Monday and it’s up to us to turn it around now.”

Despite a dismal showing by the Demons, Jones battled tirelessly throughout the match.

He finished with 23 disposals to be among Melbourne’s better players.

Although he acknowledged his recent form had been good, Jones took no positives from his display.  

“No, not really, but I’m happy with the way my form is at the moment,” he said.
“I feel like I’m playing my role and the areas that I’ve put a lot of work into are starting to show through in my game.

“But individual performances don’t mean anything - I’d prefer to play no good and have a win, than play well and have a poor loss like that.”

Jones is now itching to rectify the situation with a win against Adelaide at the MCG next round.  

“I’m just really looking forward to getting into training this week and we need to get over this loss,” he said.

“Then we need to really be gelling together as a group and come out this weekend bigger, better and stronger.

“We need to repay the fans and supporters with a better effort next week against Adelaide.”