The Demons - world beaters in the AFL one week, as frustrating as hell the next.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said Sunday's 14-point loss to North Melbourne was another unhappy sign that they have a long way to go.
In the last fortnight, they have dropped a game to Hawthorn they also should have won, before playing inspired football to shock the ladder-leading Crows at Adelaide Oval.
Sunday's MCG clash was another game where they started favourites and fell short of expectations, in a season where they are aiming for a long-awaited return to the top eight.
Goodwin said it was no excuse that they were missing key players Max Gawn and Jesse Hogan.
"I said it a few weeks ago - we're still a developing team," he said.
"When I (say) developing, I mean we're still a team that's creating the behaviours, both team-wise, but also individually, to make us a consistent team.
"We saw it today at the start of the game - to have 13 scoring shots against in the first quarter, that's a big weight to try to pull back."
After trailling by a game-high 26 points at the first change, Melbourne roared back to only be two points down at halftime.
Then North took control again at the start of the third term and built a buffer that Melbourne could not quite overcome.
Again, they were only two points down midway through the last quarter, before the Kangaroos kicked three of the last four goals.
"It certainly wasn't anything structural - it resembled a bit of the first quarter," Goodwin said of their poor start to the second half.
"We weren't able to get the game on our terms."
