Melbourne coach Dean Bailey has given the Demons a pass mark at the midway point of the AFL season - but only just.

Bailey rated the Demons a "five" out of 10 based on their efforts through the first 12 rounds of the season.

"I think we've progressed. We've missed some opportunities," Bailey said.

"Is it a pass? If you win four-and-a-half out of 12 it doesn't look great from a statistical point of view so we're probably five out of 10, just sitting there."

In their two meetings with top-four side Collingwood, Melbourne have come away with a one-point loss and a draw, but he said the focus should be on wins.

"You don't want to get too carried away with missing games that were close games ... you either win them or you lose them," Bailey said.

"We're hanging in there at the moment."

To achieve a higher grade they will have to start with the difficult job of taking out Adelaide again - but this time at the Crows' home ground - on Sunday.

The Demons won their round-three clash, but Melbourne football boss Chris Connolly this week labelled the side's performance on the road as "disgraceful".

Bailey said while Melbourne had not performed well in away games, their slow starts were more concerning.

"We've spoken about our starts, the first five to 10 minutes in games," Bailey said.

"And when you haven't won too many games in the last three or four years, the travel record in recent times won't look good anyway.

"It's more our starts. We've got to get some intensity back and probably make some tackles stick early in the first quarter.

"We've spoken about that over the last two or three weeks and it's only a matter of ensuring that it gets done, particularly in an away game."

Bailey is encouraged by the Demons' most recent win, by one point over Port Adelaide in Darwin, as an example of what his young team can achieve on the road.

"Our form at AAMI (Stadium) from a history point of view is not very good but there is nothing like the present to change it," he said.

"We had a good win up in Darwin and there's no reason why we can't go over there and really be more than competitive on Sunday."

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