DEFENDER Jared Rivers said Melbourne’s inability to put four quarters of football together is the reason behind its loss to Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

Melbourne struggled in their second and third quarters of the game; a period the Power used to establish a match-winning lead.

“I think there was a ten minute patch there where they kicked four or five goals in a row which killed us.

“We just need to try to find that consistency, and hopefully we can work on that and improve before next week.”

Rivers said that increasing Melbourne’s forays into its attacking 50 was an area that needed improving.

“We’ve got a pretty young list and we try to get it down there as much as we can but Port had pretty good pressure around the midfield and our forward line didn’t hold up.

“It’s a work in progress but that’s something we need to work on each week and improve upon.”

After witnessing first-hand how lethal Port Adelaide’s forward line can be, Rivers said that increasing the pressure through the centre was the key.

“We’ve just got to create a bit more pressure through the midfield through our forward line.

“If we can create pressure there it will give us backs a bit of an easier job. We need more team pressure and we need to win more contested footy.”

Melbourne take on Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, which Rivers said presents an opportunity for the Demons to present an attacking game style.

“If we can play four quarters of footy and open up the game we should be able to win a few games this season.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ve got a young team so we’ve just got to take the games week to week.

"Hopefully a win isn’t too far away and we can get a win next week."