MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says all involved with the red and blue need to move on from gallant efforts, such as the one it showed against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday, and start thinking about winning.

Although the Demons took it right up to the Bulldogs, losing by just seven points, Bailey said wins were paramount.

"We had our chances and we didn't take them. We turned the ball over when we didn't need to. We just need to improve some of our decision-making with our kicking and our handballing. We handballed the ball too much," he said.

"I'm not getting sick with our effort; I'm not getting sick with our commitment to improvement and I'm not getting sick with playing every minute of the game out.

"We've improved, but there comes a time when you start to move beyond that. We need to start to move beyond that and get that win. To the players' credit, they're hanging in there, which is terrific. We just need to get a bit of a reward for the effort."

Bailey was pleased with the efforts of veteran Matthew Whelan and rookie Shane Valenti, who played their first AFL matches for 2009.

Whelan collected 26 disposals and laid a cracking tackle on Bulldog Daniel Cross in the first quarter, while Valenti had 11 touches and kicked a goal in the dying minutes.

"Matty was good. He won some really hard balls and I thought he showed great bravery, which is what Matty is renowned for. He's a very good contested player. He's important for us in the backline, with a young group," he said.

"Shane finished some of his work off really well. That running goal he kicked was nice and composed – running into goal – and he had a couple of possessions that I thought were good.

"We'll play Shane next week and we'll give him two or three weeks to see what he's got. Today, he was alright for his first game."