Melbourne coach Dean Bailey was in no mood to hear about honourable losses after the Demons almost produced a stirring comeback victory over Fremantle at Subiaco on Sunday afternoon.
Down by 44 points late in the second quarter, the Demons opted to take the game on, playing on at all costs as they booted seven unanswered goals to trail by just a point 17 minutes into the third term.
But whenever Melbourne came, Fremantle found an answer, the Dockers sealing the match with two minutes left in the final quarter when Hayden Ballantyne kicked truly.
Despite the fight back, Bailey was still fuming over a first term that yielded just a solitary goal to the Dockers' six.
"You can't excuse our effort in the first quarter," Bailey said.
"That is the underlying reason that we had to fight our way back from behind was because we were really disappointing in the first quarter and they took their chances."
"I think that would be it in a nutshell I reckon."
"Character's not based on a quarter, not based on five or six minutes of any game," he added, when asked whether the side showed its' fighting spirit to come back against a top-four opponent.
"The character starts from the start and if you're not prepared to fight your way into the game from the start, you're going to be chasing the opposition for the whole game and that's what we did."
"I've often said that we need to win more quarters and today we won one."
"People look at the ten points (the margin) but we only one won quarter today, you can't win too many games like that."
The loss all but ended Melbourne's slim finals hopes, the Dees now 10 points and percentage adrift of the top eight with just six games remaining.
To make matters worse, key midfielder Brent Moloney suffered a corked thigh that saw him come off during the third quarter, an injury which will see him remain in Perth overnight.
Brad Green has also injured his finger, while Bailey said skipper James McDonald may have suffered some back-related complications with his hamstring injury at training last week.
The coach was hopeful, however, that first-year pair Jack Trengove (hip) and Jordan Gysberts (back) would be pressing for selection this week.