Melbourne coach Dean Bailey was forced to defend some unusual coaching moves made during Sunday's kick after the final siren loss to Richmond at the MCG as the AFL's tanking debate again raised its ugly head.

The Demons lost to Richmond by just four points - after Tigers' midfielder Jordan McMahon kicked the winning goal after the final siren after marking a pass from teammate Richard Tambling just before the siren sounded.

The loss means the Demons can still afford to beat Fremantle at the MCG in Round 20 -a match they are heavily favoured to win - and still receive a priority pick before the first round of this year's national draft with the Dockers also ineligible for a priority pick if they win another game this year.

A priority pick before the first round of the draft only goes to a club that has won four games or less in two successive years but had the Demons beaten both Richmond on Sunday and Fremantle in Round 20, they would have been ineligible to receive that prized pick.

And during the final term Bailey appeared to make some unusual moves - with regular ruckman Paul Johnson playing in defence while key forwards Michael Newton and Brad Miller found themselves in the centre square as regular key defenders James Frawley and Matthew Warnock found themselves in attack.

However Bailey described the moves as 'experimentation' and said the club was hindered in the final quarter on Sunday by its lack of flexibility on the interchange with back-up ruckman Stefan Martin and running defenders Jamie Bennell and Matthew Whelan all nursing injuries.

And he said there was not much he could do if sceptics were going to accuse the Demons of 'tanking' in order to maximise their chances of re-building their thin playing list at this year's national draft.

"That is going to happen anyway," he said of tanking speculation.

"Externally those stories will be written so there is not much we can do about it."

While admitting that Miller only found himself contesting a centre bounce due to a rotation error off the bench, Bailey defended his other moves saying a team that was struggling like Melbourne was entitled to play players in different positions in order to improve the team's flexibility.

"I think I have said since last year when we played (regular forward) Colin Sylvia at half-back in Round 2 or 3 that we are trying to develop flexibility in our players," he said.

"And in a pressure situation (in the last quarter on Sunday) I thought our structure was pretty good."

Bailey also revealed that he missed McMahon's winning kick after the siren because he got up to leave the coaches' box with seconds remaining, believing that the Demons had the game safe.

"Five or six seconds to go I got up because I thought we had won the footy game," he said.

"It's not often you get beaten with three or four seconds to go and I turned and walked out because I thought we had won the game."