COACH Mark Neeld says he has “absolutely no idea” how his side turned in a miserable 79-point loss against Port Adelaide at the MCG on Easter Sunday.

Neeld said his team was far from the one which had shown significant improvement during the pre-season. 

“[It’s] particularly disappointing. You can train one way for four to five months … and then be unrecognisable on the footy field,” he said.

Neeld said the whole club was hurting after the game. 

“Everyone around the club had a right to feel a little bit of optimism, coming to the ground, given what we’ve dished up on the track, and we thought we were competitive in the NAB Cup,” he said.

“We just couldn’t get it done under pressure.

“We didn’t deal at all with Port’s speed all day.”

Neeld said some home truths were spoken immediately after the match.

 “The players were really honest with each other and honest with me,” he said.

“We talk about who’s a competitor and who’s not a competitor.

“The general feeling in the room is that everyone is a competitor at times. There weren’t too many ticks that people were able to get up in front of each other and say ‘I thought you competed all day’.

After Melbourne failed to register a goal in the third quarter, Neeld said his team’s confidence dropped “unbelievably” in the final quarter.

“What we spoke about at three quarter time was unrecognisable when the [final] quarter started,” he said.

“It is a brutal game, and we’ve got ourselves to a level where we can train properly and train with intensity, and we can do a little bit of it in a game. 

Although Neeld said the difference in training standards from 12 months ago was “unrecognisable”, he conceded his side was still “extremely inconsistent with their efforts”.

“We’ve just got to stick at it and keep at it.”