MELBOURNE MUST return to the basics and provide a full four quarter effort if it's going to turn its season around, according to star defender Jared Rivers.

The Demons were blown out of the water in the second half of Friday night's clash with Carlton. It was a defensive clash and Melbourne trailed by just 16 points at half-time but the Blues broke the shackles by kicking eight goals to three in the second half.

"We were in the game for the first half of it and then we didn't play to our structures and got a lot of easy goals kicked on us," Rivers said immediately after the game.

The Demons face a tough month of football, with games against Essendon, Collingwood, Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs all coming before their bye.

Rivers said the Demons needed to return to the basics of the game and find their "intent".

"I'm just looking forward to a few big games that are coming up for the club and we need to show some spirit and hopefully that starts against Essendon on Friday night.''

Melbourne will regain the suspended Jack Trengrove for the clash against the Bombers while Tom Scully and Aaron Davey are both considered possibilities to return the senior team next week.

Melbourne has battled under the weight of an extensive injury list in recent weeks but Rivers said it had been an opportunity for younger players to get experience.

 It was also no excuse for the disappointing 47 point loss to the Blues.

"We have got a lot of quality players out but we thought that with the team we had out there, tonight we had a great opportunity to win the game. We showed that for a half of footy but you can't play half of a game and win. We have to work on our basics and we have a great challenge against Essendon on Friday night.

"Hopefully we can play four quarters of footy. If we do the basics, if we tackle, if we play with intent for four quarters, we should be right in there."

The defensive nature of the match, often played out in Carlton's forward 50, provided a difficult challenge for the Demons' defenders.

"There were a lot of inside 50s and it's always hard to rebound when the ball keeps coming in, you get pretty knackered. We have to work on holding the ball in our forward half and really press opposition teams. Our tackling inside our forward 50 is crucial and we are just not doing it at the moment.

"We had Jack Watts come back and help us out a little and try and create some of that drive but then we lacked forward options when trying to kick it in there,'' Rivers said. "We tried to put pressure on early but we faded away in the second half and it just wasn't good enough, really."

Despite the disappointment of losing the match, Rivers is continuing to find good form after returning from an ankle injury last week against St Kilda.

Rivers had a strong game on Carlton's Jarrad Waite though Waite did kick two goals. Despite playing in defence all night, he kicked a goal of his own during the third quarter.

"My own performance wasn't too bad. Waite had been in good form coming into the game, so I had a big focus on shutting him out, he kicked a few goals but I think one on one, I did okay."