Melbourne coach Neil Craig says the 37-point AFL loss to Greater Western Sydney makes the challenge of lifting the struggling Demons bigger and more exciting.
The Demons suffered the latest ignominy in a humbling year as they became the first team to lose to GWS this season.
Melbourne led by 13 early on and enjoyed a brief revival towards the end of the third quarter, but were playing catch up for most of Saturday’s game at Skoda Stadium.
It was a fifth straight loss for Melbourne, who are now just one win above the Giants.
Craig, who took over as an interim coach following the mid-season sacking of Mark Neeld, did his best to show some defiance following yet another demoralising defeat.
“This certainly strengthens my resolve to continue to push hard,” Craig said.
“The challenge just becomes bigger, but in some ways more exciting with what we’ve got.
“To be able to push forward and make this club an outstanding footy club again.”
Craig felt his team at least improved in the effort area following last week’s 122-point shellacking by the Kangaroos.
“We were inept last week, I didn’t think we were inept today in terms of our effort,” Craig said.
“I thought we fixed up the effort area from last week but we were really poor on our execution.
Craig lamented the significant amount of goals GWS scored from turnovers by his team and said they wouldn’t be more competitive until they cut down their error count.
He had little to say when asked about his chances of coaching the Demons again next year.
“Until the club decide the type of coach they want, that won’t be an issue for me,” Craig said.