Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says his team's limp loss to West Coast shows they are "nowhere near" where they need to be, but he's backing his players to find a path forward.
West Coast produced one of the biggest upsets of the AFL season when they thumped Melbourne by 35 points in Perth on Sunday.
The Demons got hammered 56-35 in the inside 50m count, with the 16.9 (105) to 10.10 (70) result marking Melbourne's biggest loss since round 11 in 2022.
A win would have thrust Melbourne (6-4) into third spot, but the Demons have now slipped to seventh ahead of Sunday's clash with St Kilda at the MCG.
Goodwin was scathing of his team's display against West Coast.
"We got beaten in every phase and that's just not where you want to be as a team," Goodwin said.
"I've said it for a number of years about what we stand for as a footy club, and we were nowhere near that today.
"And that's why you lose pretty convincingly and we've got work to do as players, coaches, everyone to get the game looking the right way for us, and then try and become the team that we want to be.
"That can take time."
Goodwin wants the loss to West Coast to be a learning opportunity.
"There's going to be times in a season where you're not playing your best footy," he said.
"It gives you an opportunity to grow, gives you opportunity to try things and learn things about your team and your personnel and find a way to be a better team.
"That's where we're at. We're not happy with where we sit today.
"That was a really, really poor performance and we'll go away and address it.
"We'll find a path forward, we'll have optimism.
"We'll look at opportunity and come out a better side down the road."
Melbourne defender Jake Lever will miss the match against St Kilda after being concussed in the first quarter against West Coast.
Lever left the field in the eighth minute after copping a leg to the face while Eagles forward Jack Darling soccered through a goal.
Although the Saints (3-7) are struggling in 14th place, Goodwin said the tightness of the competition meant there are no easy games.
"If people haven't worked out how tight the competition is yet, they've got to keep watching more footy," Goodwin said.
"It's so, so tight, and you've got to be playing the right way every week, otherwise you get exposed."
