MELBOURNE fell 43 points short of a classy Richmond outfit on Wednesday night, but Max Gawn says his side won’t be giving up on season 2019 any time soon.

“It was a good learning curve for us,” Gawn told Melbourne Media.

“Yes, we’ve had five learning curves and we’re a bit over the learning curves, but [we have] a good 10-day break to refresh.

“We’ve got a decision ahead of us. We can either give up or keep going. That’s our two options and I’m pretty sure everyone is going to be digging in and maintaining the faith.”

While the Demons have had a challenging start to the season with five losses from their opening six games, Gawn said the club is working hard behind the scenes to turn the form slump around.

“We’ve been working on our defence, but mainly we’ve been working on our DNA which is our contested footy and the stuff around the contest and making smart decisions,” he said.

“That was back for most of tonight. [In the] fourth quarter we dropped off a little bit but let’s see if we can bring it for four quarters next time.”

Melbourne got off to a strong start in the ANZAC Day Eve clash at the MCG, taking a six-point lead into the first break.

With five changes and some structural adjustments, the new-look Dees outfit came to play early and had a ferocious attack on the ball.

“You only need to watch Jack Viney’s first quarter to show that the intent was definitely there – the way he led, and the teammates followed,” Gawn said.

“Jack’s a tremendous man and that’s the role of the leaders and the older guys at the club now.”

Although the Demons haven’t been able to sustain their best footy for long enough this season, Gawn said the club is in a strong position to overcome this challenge.

“We’ve been through situations like this before and they’ll come and go and I’m sure throughout my career I’ll be through these situations again,” he said.

“It’s all about your attitude around the club and around the game day and to be honest, I wouldn’t want to be one (win) and five (losses), but we’ve been dealt this card and it’s exciting now for the boys.

“We’ve got to group up, we’ve got to galvanize together and all roads lead to Hawthorn.”