VICE captain Nathan Jones says Neil Craig has already made a genuine impact as coach since taking over from Mark Neeld mid-season.

Jones couldn’t hide his passion for his new coach when he spoke about the former Adelaide coach after Melbourne’s 31-point loss to the Sydney Swans at the MCG on Sunday.  

“I love Craigy, and the boys have really responded to him. We’ve seen some progress over the first three weeks, and it’s been a good challenge. We were really disappointed with the first half of the year and we wanted to rectify that,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“We’ve got to show something to ourselves firstly and then to our supporters - that there’s some life in here and there’s some heart and that the boys have actually got it.

“[Chief executive] Peter Jackson said that there’s a winning team in this group and we’ve got to strive hard and work hard and I think that formula will come to the fore.

“It’s been pretty exciting, and we’re really looking forward to the remainder of the year - there’s going to be some good challenges up and coming, in particular with the way Neil’s training us – it’s going to be exciting.”

Jones said his side’s effort against the Swans was “great”, but understood it still had a long way to go to match the reigning premiers.

“It was a tough day. We lost contested possessions significantly and clearances as well. They showed why they’re the best in the comp at it,” he said.

“For me, in particular, it was just a great learning experience seeing one of the best midfields in the comp go around.

“I’m sure for our boys in there as well, it was a real standard as well and we’ll strive together.”

Jones said the Demons had to keep working tirelessly over the coming weeks to start earning respect back from the rest of the competition.

“There were some real key areas and we’re really set ourselves to try and build a perception over the next month,” he said.

“We’re going a long way to doing that, but it was a great test against one of or the best teams in the competition. They really showed us in some areas, particularly contested possessions and clearances – what the standard is.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to go away and work on.”

Jones said the return of co-captain Jack Grimes this round also had a strong impact on the team.

“It’s great to have your skipper back,” he said.

“It was unfortunate that he got injured. He was having a really good year, but to have him back for the remainder of the year is going to be great for us.

“The boys really got a lift out of that.”