A FIRED-UP Nathan Jones says Melbourne must rediscover its physicality against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night and do a much better job of protecting All Australian ruckman Max Gawn from opposition roughhouse tactics.

Jones scoffed at suggestions the club would spend the early part of this week "soul searching" after a mediocre performance in a 26-point opening round loss to Port Adelaide.

Instead he declared that "shit happens" and that he and his teammates were eager to bounce back strongly.

"We need to get back to playing a physical brand of footy. I think that's what our reputation was built off last year and to be frank I don't think we're playing at that level yet," Jones told reporters on Monday.

"I think that'll burn a lot of players inside but hopefully inspires the reaction our fans will want to see and inspire us to play the way we want to play."

The co-captain was one Melbourne player to cop heavy criticism for a poor performance, exacerbated by a simple dropped mark in defensive 50 that was replayed ad nauseam over the weekend.

But, despite a limited preparation following a hamstring injury, Jones said he, Jack Viney (ankle) and Jake Melksham (hamstring) were ready to play.

"I back myself in and I back the boys in that played," Jones said.

"We still got enough work in (over the pre-season). Clearly you're a little bit rusty and you can look to blame a whole host of reasons but we're not going to look back on that, that's for sure.

"It's round one of season 2019 and I think we've all said and acknowledged multiple times that we didn't play our best or close to it and we've got a bit of work to do.

"We'll own that, there's no doubt. There's stuff that I'd like to take back in the game for sure. I dropped a pretty simple mark that I would normally take. I was embarrassed by that, but shit happens, to be honest."

Jones said a significant part of Monday's review would focus on what the players can do to protect Gawn and find ways to stick up for the star big man when he is being targeted by opposition teams.

Port Adelaide roughed Gawn up at every opportunity and the tactics appeared to put the ruckman off his game.

"That'll be something that's part of the review. We do have to support him. Clearly the last couple of games, the prelim last year (against West Coast) and round one this year he has been targeted so we're going to have to work at that," Jones said.

"We're going to have to come up with some strategies to protect him but also get him in the game if he finds himself in a similar position to the what he did on the weekend."

Jones said the Demons could look to "fight fire with fire" against the Cats and look to physically intimidate Cats ruckman Rhys Stanley if Geelong tried to bring similar tactics on Saturday night.

"Can we target the opposition ruckman, as for instance the Port players did with Max on the weekend? And can we protect Gawny more when they come at him?" Jones said.

Jones, though, did not have an issue with Port Adelaide's tactics, saying that it was all part of the game.

Despite the disappointing loss, Jones said the result was well in perspective.

"Soul searching? It's all doom and gloom, is it? It's pretty funny that after one loss that that could be suggested. We haven't played our best footy this year, really. Our JLT form was patchy and inconsistent," Jones said.

"We're going to own it. We'll review the game quite strongly… (but) it's round two, so it's well in perspective."

Star defender Steven May will return from a one-week suspension against the Cats, while veteran Jordan Lewis – who was a late withdrawal from Saturday's game against the Power – is set to be sidelined for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury.

Ruckman Braydon Preuss may be considered for selection if he has overcome an adductor strain, while former Sun Kade Kolodjashnij was a strong performer for Casey in the VFL on his way back from a groin injury.