MELBOURNE might have fought back hard to almost snatch victory over Fremantle on Sunday, but coach Dean Bailey was far from impressed with his team falling 44 points down in the first half.

Melbourne came out after half time to kick the first six goals of the third quarter to go from being 39 points behind to within a solitary point.

Aaron Davey, Jamie Bennell, Cameron Bruce, Brad Green, Nathan Jones and Colin Sylvia were among the players to lift while Jordie McKenzie limited David Mundy to five second-half possessions, James Frawley kept Matthew Pavlich goalless and the Demons pushed hard before falling 11 points short.

Despite the impressive second half, the third quarter in particular, the slow start was where Bailey's focus was after the game.

"We didn’t start well and you can't come from six goals down and expect to be in the game like we did. We fought hard in the third quarter, but it was a disappointing start," Bailey said.

"Character is not based on a quarter or on five or six minutes of any game, the character starts from the start.

"If you're not prepared to fight your way into the game from the start you are going to be chasing the opposition for the whole game and that's what we did."

Bailey didn’t change much after half time, just reconfirmed to the players what he wanted before the game and they went out with the attitude that they wanted to do something about the first half.

"We spoke about moving the ball a bit more and taking a few more risks, but we also spoke about that before the game," Bailey said.

"The message doesn’t change. It was just a matter of the guys ensuring that they were prepared to do it for each other.

"We had to take risks at the start regardless of what the other team does. Unless you are prepared to move the ball quickly and kick it well, that will determine how far you go."

Captain James McDonald and young star Jack Trengove could return next week to play the Sydney Swans with Jordan Gysberts likely to return in the VFL.

The Demons will also be sweating on the fitness of Brent Moloney who didn't resume after half time due to a badly corked thigh.