MELBOURNE has gone into damage control following a second successive drubbing to open its season, with president Paul Gardner saying the media and Demons supporters must separate fact from fiction as they assess the club's current plight.

A 95-point defeat against the Western Bulldogs was the second consecutive humiliation of Dean Bailey's fledgling AFL coaching career and Melbourne's misery was compounded by a foot injury to speedster Aaron Davey — and the prospect of facing reigning premier Geelong next Sunday.

Bailey, who replaced Neale Daniher at the end of last year, put on a brave face when asked if last week's 104-point loss to Hawthorn coupled with yesterday's flogging had shaken his belief he was the right man for the job.

"No, not at all," he said. "We've got to get the basics right and we've got to be competitive, they're the things we'll be working on," he said.

"There's no point turning up next week if we think we can't win the game."

Davey, who was carried from the ground midway through the third term, has a sprained foot and could miss the crucial round-three match against Geelong.

Bailey was pleased with his side's effort in the opening term, but when the Bulldogs piled on seven goals to three in the second quarter the Demons quickly fell off the pace.

"At least we were competitive … better than the week before," he said. "(But) to be competitive for 30 minutes and then fall into the same traps as last week was disappointing."

Gardner went on the offensive before the match started, saying the embattled Demons had come a long way since 2003, when their debt had blown out to $5.5 million.

"Since those dark days the board has worked hard, we have halved our debt, nearly doubled our football expenditure, found a new home (and) grown our membership by nearly 36%," Gardner said at the president's lunch.

The chairman promised Melbourne supporters their club would survive and thrive beyond its 150th anniversary season.

"The Melbourne Football Club will be back, make no mistake, on the field and off the field," Gardner said.

"It may not be tomorrow, it may not even be this year, but it will be back."

After the match, Gardner took the unusual step of circulating a media release titled "fact or fiction". Among statements listed as fiction were: "the club has no money", "the club is reliant on AFL funding/welfare/life support" and "the club has no members/fickle supporters".

Gardner lists reasons under each heading why each is not true and notes improvement in every category.

Bailey, meanwhile, said the focus for the remainder of this year was on building competitiveness on the field.

"Bring it on, I'm really excited to be looking at turning this group around," he said after a match that was supposed to be a celebration of James McDonald's 200th game.

"The first two weeks have been poor (and) the great challenge is within all of us. We need to work and we need to train. We will get there … we'll turn it around."

The Bulldogs dominated the contest after quarter-time and among their 11 different goal scorers had six players who kicked three or more goals.

Daniel Cross, who kicked one goal last year, booted three in the space of five minutes during the final term.

The Bulldogs had stars across the ground, including Robert Murphy (four goals), skipper Brad Johnson (three goals) and Jason Akermanis, who overcame some close checking from Clint Bartram in the first term to finish with three goals and 17 disposals.

Coach Rodney Eade said the only down side was losing forward Shaun Higgins for possibly the next two games with a badly rolled ankle.

"To play four quarters of intense football was pleasing," Eade said.

"When the score is blown out you can develop bad habits, the team goes against what you preach and the way you want to play, but I didn't see many signs of that."

He said the players were warned about taking the Demons lightly after last week's loss.

"We knew Melbourne initially were going to be up and about (and) the pleasing thing was not only to play some good football, but to maintain that for the whole game."

SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION

Melbourne president Paul Gardner outlines several aspects of fiction he believes have been circulating about the Demons:
■The club has no money
■The club is reliant on AFL funding/welfare/life support
■The club has no members/fickle supporters
■The board is the second worst in the AFL
■Melbourne is homeless
■Melbourne has no credibility as a football team
■The club's relationship with the AFL is poor
■The club is under resourced and poorly managed