MELBOURNE coach Neale Daniher has urged the club’s supporters to get behind the team in what is a difficult time for the club.

The coach spoke out following his side’s fourth consecutive loss, a 45-point defeat at the hands of Fremantle.

Only 16,654 spectators attended the MCG for the game, the lowest attendance since 2005, when Carlton played Fremantle in round 19.

“We need our supporters to hang in there with us,” Daniher said.

“It’s easy to drop off but it’s a testing time for everyone involved at our footy club. We’ll find out what we’re made of, I guess from the board level to the coach, to our players and our supporters. There’s no doubt we’re going through a tough time and it’s going to be a real test for the club.”

The Demons were again cruelled by injury, with Travis Johnstone and Brent Moloney late withdrawals, joining key players such as David Neitz, Russell Robertson, Brock McLean and Jared Rivers on the sidelines.

To make matters worse, Nathan Jones (ankle), Matthew Whelan (hamstring) and Daniel Bell (concussion) were all bench ridden by half time.

“It’s frustrating for the supporters, for our team and for the coaching staff that we just haven’t got the ammunition at the moment to take this competition on,” Daniher said.

“You have players that you lose before games but the thing that kills you is having three out by half time. It just kills you.”

Daniher did praise his team’s ability to fight on until the end despite the injuries.

“We were undermanned but I didn’t think we lacked spirit and I guess as a coach that’s all you can ask, that they have a crack and keep having a go,” Daniher said.

“Even though we played with spirit, we just weren’t good enough today. They used the ball better and had a better structure than what we did but we didn’t give up.”

The coach, now in his 10th season at the club, refused to speculate on which players would return from injury next week.

“I don’t want to talk about who’s out … but we might have to go to young blokes and all I can do is coach the ones that play,” Daniher said.

However, Daniher believes that the return to form of players such as Aaron Davey, who had 21 disposals and kicked two goals, was a cause for optimism.

Davey, who was on a season best of nine touches before the Fremantle clash, managed eight in the first quarter alone as well as a goal after only 15 seconds.

“Aaron Davey, I thought improved today. He bounced back,” Daniher said.

“Adem Yze’s been struggling a bit too but I thought he played a lot better today. So we’ll just keep coaching the guys that are in the team and keep asking them give the endeavour and spirit that they showed and just hope that we don’t continue to lose players.”

Daniher singled out Brad Miller, who kicked a hat trick of goals, for special praise.

“I was really happy with Brad Miller. I just thought that he was a great competitor. He just kept fighting it out and kicked three and with a bit better service he might have kicked five.”