As Melbourne's insipid first-half performance against Carlton was dissected from every angle on Monday, Lloyd said the Demons' game plan needed an overhaul, contending that the tactics of current coach Paul Roos were "outdated".

The basis for Lloyd's view was a comparison between the Demons' current defensive system to that of the "zoning" structures which have proved so effective in the rise of West Coast and the Western Bulldogs this year.

"I think Paul Roos was great for Melbourne, because he's given them hope," Lloyd said on Footy Classified on Monday night.

"But in terms of actual coaching, I believe he's got an outdated game style," he said.

"I believe that they play a brand of football that is very much one-on-one in defence, one-on-one through the midfield, and he is being badly exposed by some of the other coaches.

"All the top four sides don't play that way anymore. So there is big question marks on Paul Roos."

The Demons' attacking method has come under scrutiny all season - with Roos' team ranked second worst in the AFL (in front of only Brisbane) for points scored, averaging 70.8 per game.

In terms of a general indicator for what the Demons' defensive system does to help the team attack, Melbourne ranks No.17 in the league for points from turnover.

Goodwin, a former senior assistant at Essendon and champion player at Adelaide, is set to take over the official coaching position from Roos in 2017.

However the former Sydney premiership coach has indicated that Goodwin could take charge of the Demons coaches' box on game day in 2016 – replicating a transition similar to the one Roos made when handing over to John Longmire before he left the Swans.

Lloyd, a Fairfax Media columnist and former Essendon champion, said Goodwin should also have a greater say in planning the Demons' game style from now on.

"He needs greater responsibility to take this team forward into how the game is being played at the moment," Lloyd said of Goodwin.

As recently as Monday, Melbourne president Glen Bartlett told Fairfax Media that finals was still the club's target in 2016 – aiming for a rise that would match that of the Bulldogs this year.

Certainly there is talent on the list, especially midfield depth – with Dom Tyson, Angus Brayshaw, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney, Christian Salem and Jimmy Toumpas and key bookends in Jesse Hogan and Tom McDonald – and Roos' coaching style will have given the players solid grounding similar to that which the Bulldogs are now building from the Brendan McCartney platform.

Lloyd's comments came on the same night that Roos, speaking in his regular role on Fox Footy's AFL360, detailed his observations of the club in general as a "very negative environment".

"There is no doubt that there is this veil of negativity that exists – and I'm talking about the whole football club," Roos said. "And it's fuelled by everyone."

Roos gave an insight on Monday night into the supporter feedback he had received via a flood of emails since the Carlton loss that only perpetuated the negative feeling.

"Another guy emailed me and said, 'I knew driving to the game that we were going to get flogged by Carlton today'," he said.

"And I thought, 'How many players would we have had that thought the same thing?' So these moments actually help you then [think about] what do we do about that?"

Roos, who was brought in last year on a huge contract to help rebuild Melbourne, took exception to suggestions that he wasn't emotionally invested in the club.

"The things I take offence to in the emails are not about how the team played [but] it's when people say, 'You need to show more commitment'. We [the coaches] think about football 24-7," Roos said.

"It's actually offensive when people say, 'Does it really hurt?'"

Former Demons great Garry Lyon was one commentator who questioned the commitment of the performance put up in the first half against the Blues on Sunday, labelling it a "soulless display".

"I looked at it and thought 'they don't care'," Lyon said on Footy Classified.

"Their wins against the Western Bulldogs, Richmond, Geelong and Collingwood are much better wins than what they've had for five or six years," he said.

"But it doesn't excuse what we saw yesterday."

Indeed it was the Demons' round 12 win over the Cats at Simonds Stadium – where the team played with, in Lyon's opinion, "spirit, heart and optimism" – that the former captain hoped would be a turning point.

And thus Lyon found it hard to accept Roos' "veil of negativity" comments.

"I don't know whether you go back to the negativity when they lose," he said.

"I didn't see it when they won.

"I would have thought after the Geelong game the building blocks where there to get effort. I don't care about win-loss - I would've thought uncompromising effort from that point until the end of the season.

"And that's a coaches' responsibility and that's a club responsibility."