Mark Neeld wants a year to judge his rebuild of Melbourne

MARK Neeld asked for his rebuilding mission to be judged in a year after Melbourne was largely uncompetitive in a 90-point loss to Fremantle.

A DEFIANT Mark Neeld asked for his rebuilding mission to be judged in a year after Melbourne was largely uncompetitive in a 90-point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium.

Neeld refused to accept his team's work rate was lacking after the Dockers feasted on uncontested possession to open a 71-point lead by halftime in the 19.16 (130) to 6.4 (40) defeat.

SuperCoach scores, stats and more

"I don't think the effort was too bad ... when you put three guys behind the ball, those numbers get skewed quite a bit," he said.

The Demons are bracing for another week of intense scrutiny ahead of a daunting clash against Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.

Melbourne's total was a more accurate version of the 5.10 (40) it kicked against Fremantle in a 61-point loss to the Dockers in Perth in the final round last season.

Fremantle v Melbourne

Neeld acknowledged his side had not improved since last year, saying its progress should be assessed after another year. He took over as coach in late 2011.

"It's somewhat skewed because the major list change that we did was last November, not the previous one," he said.

"I suppose ask me in 12 months. We'd want to kick more than 40 points."

Neeld said the current squad was capable of future success but was prepared for further calls for his sacking.

"You know that that comes with the territory, but it's not about me," he said.

 "People make those calls. We know what our roles are, that's we being all the coaches.

"We know exactly where we're at. We're going out there development coaching and that's where it's at.

Fremantle v Melbourne

"We have a young, inexperienced group mainly that we're trying to fast-track in their AFL career.

"We came up against a very well-oiled, well-drilled side and we were overwhelmed with their pressure in the first half.

"We just couldn't cope, pretty much, with their pressure."

Defender James Frawley attended the club's post-match press conference with Neeld and said the heavy loss was the players' fault.

"We put our hand up. We didn't play well enough. We have faith in him (Neeld) and we're all behind him," Frawley said.

"We didn't play our role and that's what happens.

"He gets put under scrutiny for it, but us players have to take a fair bit of that blame today.

"I thought in the second half we responded pretty well. I think we only lost by 20 points in the second half so a good turnaround but the first half was not good enough."