Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has implored supporters to keep faith as he and the AFL club undertake what he calls trying to rebuild a rebuild.

On what the Demons dished up in a diabolical 148-point loss to Essendon, it would appear Neeld faces a task similar to constructing the Empire State Building out of broken Lego.

After his team kicked just 1.1 for the second half and allowed Essendon to do as they pleased, Neeld is now certain to face massive pressure to keep his job following two huge defeats to open the season.

But the second-year coach has vowed to lead his broken, battered club’s fightback, shuffle the players until he finds a competitive unit, and rebuild the Dees.

“I feel what they’re feeling – and that’s no consolation to our supporters,” a clearly shattered Neeld said after the 28.16 (184) to 5.6 (36) shellacking at the MCG on Saturday night.

“I’m aware what our supporters have been through in the past few years.

“I’m still confident we’ve got a core group of players – they’re working their backsides off to become AFL standard.

“We’ve got to get the whole club going that way.

“That’s a hard thing for supporters to hear, I understand that. We’re having a crack at trying to rebuild a rebuild.

“It’s going to be painful. We just need to find the players that are consistently up for the fight – shuffle them in and shuffle them out.

“There’s no easy way out. That’s clear.”

Neeld looked shellshocked, and at times without answers in a post-match media conference he faced alone.

But every aspect of the club – not just the coach – will be put under the hottest of spotlights this week ahead of a clash with West Coast at the MCG.

Rival coach James Hird admitted he felt for Neeld after the Bombers toyed with the uncompetitive Demons, but believed Neeld could lead the club back from the depths.

“Last year we lost to Geelong by 67 points and Hawthorn by 94 points two weeks in a row – as a coach it’s hard when that happens, and it does happen,” Hird said.

“You build on it, you use it for your resolve for your team and yourself.

“It can be turned around very quickly. Mark’s a good coach and he’ll get his team back on track.

“He just needs the support of his footy club and his supporters at the moment.”