SATURDAY saw Melbourne’s AFLW side suffer their first loss of the season, going down to Adelaide by 14-points.

Travelling to Norwood Oval for their first interstate game of the year, the Demons were on the back foot from the first bounce, the Crows keeping them goalless for three quarters. 

Melbourne midfielder Maddi Gay explained that while her side was expecting to come into a tough contest, the end result was still disappointing.

“It’s always hard to beat a team on their own turf, especially a team like Adelaide as they’re one of the top competitors each year,” Gay told Melbourne Media post-match.

“But we didn’t play the game we know how to play and they definitely got on top of us in the first three quarters.

“We fought it out in the last, but it was just a bit too late for the game.

“So, there’s definitely a lot to work on and we will this coming week but overall, very disappointed with the result.”

For much of the Round 4 game, Adelaide managed to restrict Melbourne’s access inside their forward line, with the Crows finishing at 44 inside 50s compared to the Demons’ 21.

Touching on how the Crows were able to impact Melbourne’s fundamentals, Gay detailed how that expert level of pressure is something to focus on moving forward.

“We want to get the ball forward as much as possible and their pressure was outstanding, so it made it hard for us,” Gay explained.

“Definitely with next week, we’ve got to get used to that game where elite pressure is coming at you.

“You can’t just back down, so we’ll be working on that.

“And as for our fundamentals, we’ve got to nail them against a team like the Crows and hopefully we do in the coming weeks.”

With three goals kicked in the final term, the Dees were able to bring the deficit back to within 14 points, but unfortunately weren’t able to push further, the Crows sealing the win at 4.11 (35) to 3.3 (21).

Gay acknowledged that the side’s fourth quarter fight was the biggest positive to come out of the game, with their trio of scores demonstrating Melbourne's capability when faced with a competitive side.

“With a team like the Crows, if you are down for the first three quarters, we could have just backed down,” Gay said.

“So, to show that we could still fight in that last quarter and put some goals on the board, it was really good to see.”

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