JAKE Melksham says Melbourne’s 46-point loss to Richmond at the MCG on Anzac Day Eve was not a true reflection of its round five performance.

Melksham said it was a disappointing finish, after the red and blue trailed by 13 points early in the final term.

“One quarter let us down and we played strong footy for three quarters and we were right in the game – even early in that last quarter,” he told Melbourne Media.  

“[Richmond kicked] seven goals to two [after we kicked the first goal of the final term], but they played better than us for four quarters.

“We just got beaten late in the game.”

Melksham was adamant the final margin looked a lot worse than the actual contest.

“The scores look a lot worse than the way we played, I think, but people will beg to differ,” he said.

“We spoke with Goody (Simon Goodwin) that three quarters of footy was really solid and we couldn’t fault that. But we need four [quarters] and we just need to find a way to play four full quarters of footy and see out those games. We can’t play three quarters against the reigning premiers and steal a win.

“There is plenty to look at during the week, but we’ll take a fair bit of confidence going into Essendon next week, considering we got a hiding last week from Hawthorn.”

Melksham, who kicked a career-best four goals against the Tigers, said he was confident his game would turn, after he kicked 0.7 in his first four games of the season, after booting 21 goals in his final 12 matches last year.

“I kicked a few points up until now this year and I’ve been around the mark,” he said.

“I’ve been sticking at it and I knew a solid game wasn’t too far away, and sometimes you’ve just got to keep working hard for it.

“It doesn’t come easy when you’re playing AFL – you’ve really got to work hard to capitalise and have good games, so I was happy that we did that.”

With Melbourne set to play Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Melksham said recovery was critical.

“Recovery is huge and it starts now,” he said.

“We’ve all been in this position before and we all know what to do, but we’ll probably have a light runaround midweek and then get stuck into the Bombers on Sunday.”