Neale Daniher promises he'll be "stepping up" this week ahead of the Demons' clash with the Cats, as Melbourne hunts its first win for season 2007.

The Demons went down to the Hawks by 22 points at the MCG on Monday afternoon, after leading at the first change and staging a courageous fight-back where they kicked four goals to two in the final term.

Now, they must regroup in time for next Sunday's match against the Cats, who Daniher said were in “red-hot” touch in their 78-point win over the Blues on Saturday night.

"It's a big test for us, to respond against Geelong, who are on fire," Daniher said, after Monday's loss.

"I'll be stepping up, and I'll expect my players to step up as well."

The Demons lost their opening three matches last year before rebounding to win 11 of their next 12 encounters.

Daniher said the club's dramatic change in form last season is not significant to the way this year will take shape.

"Last year is history. We paint our own future. What happened last year and the year before (is not relevant)," he said.

"We've just got to come out, get our team together, and have a crack at Geelong, who are in red-hot form."

Daniher said it was difficult for the Demons to remain competitive on Monday afternoon once David Neitz and Russell Robertson both succumbed to knee injuries.

Neitz went off the field midway through the first term after crashing on his right knee after taking a mark, and Robertson made his exit early in the fourth after jarring his own knee.

"We started brightly enough. We probably could have been further in front and then (Ben) Dixon got a late one," he said.

"We came out of the blocks okay, then Neitz's loss … we really got unstructured in the second quarter. We went in there but our forward line didn't function at all.

"Not only didn't it function, but it would just rebound out, so we got the double whammy.

"They were too good for us in the third quarter. We fought it out to seven points, then Robertson came off and that's the way it goes.

"We lost two last week and we lost two this week.

"I was happy with our blokes not tossing it in. We kicked four goals to one in the last quarter but they were just too far away from us to really nail the game."

As far as the injuries sustained by his two influential forwards are concerned, Daniher was none the wiser directly after the match.

"Neitz got a bang to the knee, so him and Russell will have to be looked at," he said. "It's too early to say (how bad it is).

"I'll go back in and see the doctor now, but they might need specialists to assess it. I don't think they're long-term (injuries), but how would I know?"

While Aaron Davey appeared to be struggling with a foot complaint in the final stages of the game, Daniher said it was more a form issue with the small goalkicker.

"He just can't get the ball. He's out of sorts. He's just in shocking form, and Trav (Johnstone) didn't have too much impact on the game, so there's two really good players for us who were down on the day," he said.

"It's a challenge (Davey) now faces."