MELBOURNE president Don McLardy has denied the Demons are in crisis and said it was time for the players to buy into the new direction and start performing.

In response to fierce criticism in the wake of a 101-point loss to the Sydney Swans on Saturday afternoon and the club's eight consecutive losses to start the season the Demons president got on the front foot and appeared on Fox Footy's On the Couch.

"The on-field performance is not acceptable," McLardy said.

"That is clear … there are a lot of people making comments that our whole club is in crisis, now I think that is totally unfair and unfounded."

He said the club had made extensive progress off the field but all its energies were now directed towards improving on-field performance.

McLardy believed the new coaching group, led by Neeld, was the right group to achieve that change.

"We interviewed extensively for the role. Mark (Neeld) clearly had a lot of attributes we were seeking and he has done nothing so far to show us that he is not the man," McLardy said.

"We are very confident of the structure he has put in place, the people around him, his gameplan … he's very convinced about his gameplan. We just need our players to buy into that and start performing."

He said he expected the club's senior players to respond to the criticism that was directed at them and admitted it was disappointing to see Colin Sylvia smiling and apparently joking with the Sydney Swans' Josh Kennedy immediately after the siren on Saturday.

"I'm sure Colin Sylvia is sitting there a bit worried about that as well and I expect some reaction to it," McLardy said.  

McLardy however batted away suggestions that there will be a mass cleanout of players at the end of the season, indicating that remains to be seen.

"That may be the situation, but our players have been challenged very heavily by this new regime. Some of them will respond and I think have responded positively," he said.

"We tend to look at things going wrong but I would say that the improvement in Nathan Jones has been fantastic. I think Jeremy Howe has really come along. Mitch Clark has been a great addition. I think there have been some responses positive to (the) coaching. But it is a new regime and it is a big swing from where we were."

McLardy also hit back at comments from former Sydney Swan and now ABC commentator Tadhg Kennelly who said on radio that Jim Stynes would be turning in his grave after Melbourne's performance on the weekend.

"I wasn't really happy with the 'Jim turning in his grave' comment because what Jim would be saying is, 'no, we know what we are doing, we've got a plan, let's be brave enough now to stick to it and see it through',"McLardy said.