CO-CAPTAIN Nathan Jones says he can see why Gold Coast superstar Gary Ablett is the best in the business, having played a run-with role on the Suns skipper.
Jones, who started on Ablett in the first quarter, before gaining the freedom to win his own ball, said playing a close checking role on the Suns skipper would only help his own game.
“It’s been a little bit of a change of mindset the last couple of weeks to be the hunter, rather than the hunted,” he told Dee TV, after also playing a run-with role on Carlton star Marc Murphy last round.
“I got released off him (Ablett) in the second half, because we weren’t winning enough ball around the stoppages. I just tried to play my role today (Sunday) and no wonder Gaz is the best player in the comp, really.
“To see him close up was a great learning for me and Jordie [McKenzie], who ended up going onto him. In the end, we didn’t have 22 blokes play their role and in the end, we didn’t test him (Ablett) enough with the decisions we made.”
Although Melbourne went down to the Suns by eight points at the MCG on Sunday, Jones said close enough wasn’t good enough.
“We’re not going to be happy with that. We’ll get back and reload for another big week,” he said.
“To only lose by eight points – it’s an opportunity gone missing. For our development, we can’t be happy with that. By no means are we at all.
“Hopefully that [loss] burns and it gives [our players] the desire to train hard this week … it’s a big challenge next week, [as] Sydney was pretty good [on Saturday] and it’ll be a big challenge [next] Saturday night at the MCG.”
Jones said missed tackles and not enough pressure on the opposition proved costly in the wash-up.
“It was a tough pill to swallow. We didn’t play really good footy all day. We fought and scrapped and to lose by eight points, it’s a tough one,” he said.
“The real learning from it is that we need to make better decisions on field that’s going to lead us to winning games.
“We let ourselves down in that area and the Gold Coast really capitalised on that. It’s disappointing for us and we need to head back to the drawing board and make sure we continue to bring the effort.”
Jones said Melbourne was fortunate not to be blown away by Gold Coast early.
“Gold Coast could’ve really put us to the sword early, if they had have kicked straight,” he said.
“We could’ve been closer or maybe in front if we had have scored.
“Really, if you looked at the game as a whole, we didn’t make enough clear decisions on the day to win the game and that’s what we’ve got to get back to.”
