MELBOURNE once again showed positive signs against St Kilda on Saturday night, but again left the ground without a victory.

But the Demons will head to the daunting reappointment with Geelong at Simonds Stadium next Saturday with a belief they can match it with the competition's contenders.

On Saturday night, Melbourne came up 18 points short against St Kilda but the margin did not necessarily reflect the closeness of the contest.

Demons coach Mark Neeld admitted after the game that he wondered how they lost by three goals. Given the Saints have been in the finals for the past four seasons, the young group - 10 Melbourne players from the game had played fewer than 50 games - will take heart.

The effort has improved and now some of the statistical indicators are on the rise too. For the first time this season, Melbourne won more possessions than its opposition.

That was one pleasing development from the game as the group gets used to Neeld's game-plan: "We're not exactly saying don't have uncontested possessions, they're starting to run and get it, it's great," said Neeld.

Neeld said it was the ability for St Kilda to stick to its structures for longer than Melbourne that was the difference. He said Melbourne got it right for about 85 per cent of the game, which from his point of view was both a positive and a negative.

"The stats will indicate that we touched the ball enough in comparison to the Saints but we weren't turning those possession chains into quality inside 50s," said Neeld. "Three weeks ago I was not sitting here talking about possession chains so that is a positive I suppose but no one likes losing."

While many pundits can't see Melbourne winning in the first half of the season with games against Geelong, Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans and Carlton ahead in May, it is hard to write the Demons off on Saturday night's performance.

Certainly Clint Bartram - who performed well in his 100th game - is looking at every game as an opportunity, including next week's clash against the Cats.

"[There were] some promising signs but at the same time as a playing group we are hungry for a win and we did not get that tonight," said Bartram. "The reality is that we have to put the head down again this week and take competitive blokes down to Geelong."

Neeld is starting to find competitors. Tom McDonald showed glimpses against Nick Riewoldt, while Neeld was impressed with the way co-captain Jack Grimes responded after making some errors early. He also said Jordie McKenzie fought hard to quell Brendon Goddard.

He will learn plenty more in the next month.

"There was a glimpse into what we can be like provided the talent is matched with work ethic and discipline all the time," said Neeld.

DIRTY HALF-DOZEN: MELBOURNE'S NEXT SIX GAMES
Round 6: v Geelong, Simonds Stadium
Round 7: v Hawthorn, MCG
Round 8: v Sydney Swans, SCG
Round 9: v Carlton, MCG
Round 10: v Essendon, MCG
Round 11: v Collingwood, MCG