The same old story at Melbourne as Mark Neeld turns his focus to the kids

MARK Neeld has vowed to strip his list back even further, angry that the Demons' youngsters are being left to lead the resistance.

EMBATTLED Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has vowed to strip his list back even further, angry that the Demons' youngsters are being left to lead the resistance.

Fed up with several of his senior players repeatedly making basic mistakes, Neeld threatened to blood even more youth after his side's 83-point thrashing by Collingwood.

On another horror day for the Demons, Chris Dawes limped off with what could be a serious ankle injury.

Melbourne's percentage plummeted to an AFL-low 49.8 as it recorded its eighth 10-goal loss of the year.

Neeld's hold on his job remains shaky given president Don McLardy yesterday again failed to take the opportunity to guarantee Neeld would see out the second year of his three-year deal.

Dees' early spark a false dawn

"Clearly there's still a few of our experienced players we just need to change. If you're going to continually kick the ball back, well, we've got a couple of other boys in the VFL who could probably play," Neeld said.

"Then we have to sit around and say, 'If we're playing 13 guys under 50 (games), do we play 17 guys under 50 (games) and how does that look?' Do we bring another few kids from Casey ... and what do we do with a couple of the older blokes who keep turning it over? We'll work through that.

"The ability just to complete a possession chain is frustrating and the guys leading the way in terms of doing that - Dean Terlich, Matt Jones, Jimmy Toumpas - have been here five minutes.

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"A lot of the boys under pressure just give it back too easily and that's got to be the focus. Yes, we're young and developing, but the frustrating thing is it's the young, new boys who are leading the way. It's a recurring theme."

The Demons went more than a half of football between kicking their first and second goals.

"I wouldn't say the effort disappeared. I reckon my frustration level exploded," Neeld said.

"I think the Pies have had 24 shots at goal as a direct result of us turning the footy over."

Any positives Neeld was willing to draw from a bright first quarter were further eroded by yet another injury to Dawes and the unknown future of Mitch Clark's latest foot problem.

Neeld said Clark might not play again this year. Dawes will be scanned today, but Neeld wasn't optimistic.

Melbourne v Collingwood,