COACH Paul Roos says several passages of play ultimately cost Melbourne from achieving its fifth win of the season – including one-step kicks by his players, which were simply a “lack of care, a lack of focus and a lack of effort”.

Speaking post-match after his side’s six-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday – after Melbourne trailed by 37 points at the 11-minute mark of the second term – Roos said he was frustrated by a number of efforts from his charges.

“I reckon three of the blokes who turned the footy over in the first half were our three best kicks, because it was a lack of care and focus,” he said.

“That’s what happens.”

Roos said Melbourne’s first 40 minutes of the match was “diabolical” and “horrible”.

“In AFL footy, if you don’t come ready to play, you end up six goals behind,” he said.

“It’s still part of us as a club learning. You can’t turn up to a game and not come ready to play.

“When we started to play the way we wanted to play, we played really well, but it’s just that ability to front up week in, week out that the boys really struggle with at the moment.”

Roos said he couldn’t explain why his team had crucial lapses, but pointed to Melbourne’s form of the past two seasons for the reasons why.

“When you’re five or six [goals] behind, you can’t make any mistakes at all – there’s no margin for error whatsoever,” he said.

“Two and a half quarters were really good and [in] the third quarter, we kicked seven goals to three and got back into the game.

“But there’s just no margin for error – you can’t have anything go wrong, when you’re so far behind.”

Meanwhile, Roos said dasher Dean Terlich, who was subbed off for debutant Dom Barry in the final term, was replaced due to a shoulder injury.

But Roos indicated there was a chance Terlich could’ve returned, although he didn’t want to risk him.  

“I don’t think it’s (the shoulder) too bad, but when you’ve got a sub there [it’s not worth risking him],” he said.

“We could’ve put him back on.

“They were actually reasonably positive about him going back on, but a bit unsure about how he’d be – if he did.”