MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin says his side must learn to perform better in the back half of games, after a costly second-half fadeout against Richmond on Saturday night.
The Demons put up a good fight against the in-form Tigers in the first half, trailing by only three points at the main break.
But when rain descended on the MCG in the third quarter, Melbourne fell away, conceding five goals as the Tigers put on a wet-weather footy clinic and ran out 33-point winners.
Goodwin said while his side would take heart from a competitive opening two quarters, it needed to start playing better in the second half of games.
"We certainly need to perform better in the back half of games," Goodwin said.
"Too often we've been in situations where we're been in winning positions and we haven't got a result.
"We need to own that … and we'll continue to find ways to get better as the game goes on."
The Demons have performed poorly in second halves all season, being outscored by a total of 134 points in third terms and 151 points in final quarters.
Goodwin said inefficiency was a key reason why his side struggled in the latter stages of games.
"Part of it's the way we're playing and our inefficiency. That weighs down on the team," Goodwin said.
"That's certainly not an excuse but it's certainly a reason and we're continuing to work on that."
Melbourne suffered a major injury scare in the second term when defender Jake Lever limped from the field favouring his right leg, and Goodwin admitted there were "nervous times" in the coaches' box given his previous knee issues.
But Goodwin said Lever just had a rolled ankle and the club would see how the defender pulled up during the week.
Lever – who finished with 14 disposals and eight marks – said in the rooms post-match he was a bit sore but felt better as the game went on.
He echoed Goodwin's sentiments that the club needs to perform consistently over four quarters if it wants to start winning regularly again.
"It is pretty frustrating, coming off at the end of the game when you've lost," Lever said.
"But we'll look at that first half and it sort of looked like the footy we were playing last year.
"We've showed this year we can play that type of footy for two or three quarters, but it's just about consistently doing that for four quarters and that's what the best sides do."
