The Storm blew a 14-0 halftime lead at AAMI Park to lose 18-14 last week, following the same pattern from their painful grand-final defeat to the Broncos last year when they also held a healthy advantage.
Halfback Jahrome Hughes said the veteran coach wasn't happy with how the match played out.
"Obviously he wasn't happy - I don't think anyone in our team was happy at all," Hughes said on Wednesday.
"I think he used the word complacency coming out in the second half and we hope it wasn't complacency from any of our players and just the way the game went.
"But I think it's a massive learning (curve) for us, especially a couple of the new boys in our squad who haven't played much first grade or their first as full-time starters."
Hughes didn't believe the grand-final outcome weighed on the Storm in their second match but more that his team just didn't match the resurgent Broncos.
"We knew that they're a good team and having that lead probably ... you don't have it won at halftime.
"We had the right mindset going out there and we knew they were going come out hard and be very desperate and I guess we just didn't combat that very well.
"We had the right mentality, we just didn't put it out there."
While Melbourne suffered their first loss of the season, the Cowboys banked a breakthrough win over Gold Coast.
Representative halfback Tom Dearden was integral to the victory, masterminding his side's attacking blitz in the 30-16 victory.
Hughes was well aware of his rival's strengths ahead of Saturday night's match.
"Yeah, he's just a competitor - he's such a great player and he competes on every play and he's a great runner of the ball and organiser," Kiwi Test No.7 Hughes said.
"I think his biggest threat is his competitiveness as he gets in there and will put his body in front of anything and run in front of everyone and we've got to be aware of that."
