MELBOURNE simply needs to play better footy.

The Demons were inconsistent and inefficient on Monday night, falling to Fremantle by 14 points and recording their eighth defeat of the season.

In what was their second loss at Cazaly’s Stadium in five days, Simon Goodwin’s frustration was rife, with the coach calling for his group to stand up. 

“As a club, I think we need to become a much more ruthless club and really grow up and start to perform in these types of games,” Goodwin said in his post-match press conference.

“We need to start becoming more mature as a club and more unconditional about the way we go about our business.

“That’s why we sit where we sit right now.”

The Dockers were dominant in Cairns’ wet and windy conditions, leading throughout the game’s entirety.

They kicked six goals to the Dees’ four, were far more efficient in their ball use and finished with 108 more uncontested possessions.

And while the stats proved telling, it was Melbourne’s second quarter that was most damaging for Goodwin.

“Freo were better than us,” he said.

“They were able to string multiple chains of possessions together and we weren’t.

“The efficiency on both sides of the ball was pretty stark and it showed out in the game.

“In the second quarter, we just didn’t defend the way we would’ve liked and didn’t move the ball.

“We were just so stagnant with the ball in hand that quarter – we were pretty boring to watch.

“That’s where the game slipped away from us.”

The Demons now need to win their final two games of the home-and-away season, and have other results go their way, if they are to make finals this year.

Having been in a promising position prior to their trip to Cairns, their focus now shifts to a clash with GWS on Saturday.

“It’s a disappointing five days,” Goodwin said.

“We put ourselves in a position where we could really start to improve and challenge.

“Our destiny has been taken out of our hands by how we’ve performed.

“We can only focus on we can control right now and that’s that we need to put in better performances, in all phases of how we play.

“Too often tonight, the variation in consistency across all phases of our game was off.

“That’s why you get the result you get – you’re an inconsistent footy club.”