MELBOURNE caretaker coach Todd Viney has questioned his players' mental and physical hardness in the wake of their seven-point loss to Richmond on Sunday.

The Demons' work rate and attack on the ball was poor in the first half and the Tigers were able to jump out to a 26-point lead at half-time, dominating Melbourne in the tackle count and contested possessions.

"Overall, I'm really disappointed with this, probably more so than the previous two weeks," Viney said after the match.

"It's nowhere near good enough, we've got to harden up mentally and physically so we can compete for whole games, whether it's against the best teams or the teams that are at the same level as us.

"When we can start to do that, we'll get more consistency in our performances, but I was pretty disappointed."

It was a different story after half-time with Melbourne winning the contested possessions 40 to 21 and lifting their pressure on the ball carrier in the third term.

The Demons renewed attack on the ball also lifted their disposal efficiency to 75 per cent and they were able to capitalise on the scoreboard with a seven-goal-to-one quarter.  

"At half-time…we weren't competing at the required level, we weren't hard enough at the contested ball," Viney said.

"Our efficiency by hand and foot was really poor, we coughed the ball up because we weren't hard enough in the mind to attack it.

"All of a sudden we go out in the third quarter, we get the hardness right, the attack on the footy right and then our efficiency goes to 75 per cent - that's because the mind is hard enough to execute under that sort of pressure."

But the Demons couldn't maintain that intensity in the final term, and as they dropped off mentally and physically, so too did their efficiency- to 53 per cent.

"We weren't hard enough to play out the last quarter, we thought the third quarter was going to be enough and Richmond were going to lay down and die - but they didn't," Viney said.

"I'm disappointed we come out in the first half and dish that up - we've spoken about the importance of finishing the year strongly, getting things we've been trying to work on better."

The Demons will now face Gold Coast and Port Adelaide in the final two rounds of the season.