Ex-Demon captain Garry Lyon believes his former club are no better off than they were in 2019 where they finished 17th.
The Demons were beaten by West Coast by 27 points, however, they managed 10 more inside 50s then the Eagles but failed to turn that forward half game into scores.
West Coast are an elite intercept marking team and Melbourne's delivery forward of centre made it all the easier for the likes of Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass, Brad Sheppard, Lewis Jetta and Shannon Hurn, who combined for 37 marks.
Lyon believes this is the same issue Melbourne faced in 2019.
"Same old Melbourne, they dominated field position for much of the game and had 10 more inside 50s," he told SEN Breakfast.
"All that did is it went inside 50 a gave West Coast a chance to rebound and go up the other end to kick a goal.
"West Coast looked pretty awesome. The Demons' effort wasn't an issue, they had a crack, Jack Viney was superb, but gee, the connection going forward... at least they've got 12 weeks to work on it."
Tom McDonald looks a shell of the man who kicked 53 goals in 2018 - he was hardly a threat in 2019 and again last weekend didn't look likely.
Sam Weideman is yet to delver on the promise he showed in 2017 and 2018 and found himself out of the team for the Demons' season opener.
