DIRECTLY after Melbourne's 41-point loss to North Melbourne on Saturday, Demons coach Dean Bailey gathered his players just outside the forward 50 of the Coventry end of Etihad Stadium.

What he had to stay had to be said then and there, and wouldn't have had nearly the same effect if he'd waited until the players had cooled off and washed away the remnants of the past three hours.

He told his players they were embarrassing. That they had shamed the club in front of its supporters, just under a week after giving them hope when they thrashed Adelaide by 96 points at the MCG. 

He questioned how that could happen; how a side could so drastically alter its form after winning so easily the previous round and lose by almost seven goals after leading by more than five in the first quarter.

The players listened intently to his message on their consistency, and how it simply needed to get better.

And they entirely agreed with him.

"It was pretty embarrassing really. The boys pretty much turned it up and gave in after quarter time. We just thought we had it won," defender James Frawley said after the game.

"As a player, it's embarrassing and very frustrating. We had a really good week last week and we were up and about, and to just come out here this week and crumble under pressure is not good enough.

"We went away from the team aspects and started doing individual things, and we just fell apart from there."

The Demons kicked seven goals to three in the first quarter. After the first break, they kicked another five for the game.

North Melbourne kicked 16 goals after quarter-time, and won the stats that matter including contested marks (13-7), contested possessions (156-138) and inside 50s (54-48).

The Demons won the clearances (46-36) but failed to make the Kangaroos pay when they had the ball, and too often made the wrong decision and or a simple error.

Frawley said he wasn't sure why Bailey chose to address his players, albeit briefly, in full view of the Demons' supporters still inside Etihad Stadium after the game. 

"It was probably so we could show a bit of unity as a group," he said.

"We're all one here at Melbourne and we're not putting anyone out in the cold.

"If we had won today, we would have won together. But we lost, and we're all in that together as well."

Frawley admitted the absence of Mark Jamar (knee) and Jack Grimes (foot), who went down with injuries last weekend, affected the side but refused to concede it influenced the glaring deficiencies that were exposed after that startling opening quarter.

He also said the storm surrounding Jack Trengove's three-week suspension and failed appeal, and the suspended $2500 fines he and Ricky Petterd were handed for making negative comments about the tribunal's decision on Twitter, had not impacted on the side's preparation for the match.

"It wasn't a big distraction throughout the week. All the boys were pretty focused on the game, and in the first quarter we came out fighting and it went down hill from there," he said.

Then, Frawley just ran out of words to describe what had happened to the Demons, who looked so promising just six days ago. 

"We were really fired up for this game and I don't know what happened, really. I just can't explain it."