Melbourne coach Dean Bailey will leave his players to stew over the weekend before subjecting them to a 'blunt' assessment of their 48-point loss to Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Bailey opted to break with tradition and not speak with his men after their eleventh defeat of the season left the Demons firmly planted at the foot of the ladder.
"I haven't spoken to them," Bailey said.
"It's a chance for them to think about it over the weekend and we'll talk about it on Monday and we'll evaluate the tape."
"I think we'll evalute like we have after every other game and we'll be pretty precise and pretty blunt with how we saw the game."
There will be plenty for the Demons to dissect, particularly an insipid third term when they managed just the one goal while the Bombers poured in seven to take charge of the contest.
Bailey said the troubles had begun late in the second term when the Demons had closed within a goal after a poor start.
"Instead of going into half-time two or three points down, we went in 16 points down," he said.
"I think it was just a drop in concentration and then errors."
"The start of the third was really disappointing. The possession count was down and we just kept kicking the ball to them, we contributed to all the errors in the third quarter."
One reason for Demon fans to smile, however, was the exciting debut of indigenous forward Liam Jurrah, who kicked a spectacular goal in the second term when he fended off a pair of Bombers in the goalsquare and somehow was able to put foot to ball.
Jurrah, who this time last year was playing barefoot football in the Australian outback, had 11 possessions.
"It was good for LJ to show a little bit," Bailey said after the match.
"I think it's good for him, confidence for him. It was a big occasion for LJ. He had a couple of nice chases, but his aerial stuff will only get better."
"He had an incredibly limited pre-season, he's only just started playing games, so he's very raw in his physique."
"I think he showed tonight that he has got a reasonable football brain. Hopefully we have uncovered a quick forward who can do some special things."
Another promising youngster, No.1 draft pick Jack Watts, drilled two goals and showed great poise when used up the field.
Watts had nine touches and faces a tricky year as he juggles Year 12 studies and a football career.
"It was good tonight that he had a couple of set shots for goal. he took his time, he made a couple of good decisions with the ball," Bailey said.
"He's certainly got the pedigree to be a good player, we've just got to get some experience into him."
