BEING the competitor he is, Max Gawn was evidently frustrated after Melbourne’s 10-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.

But he’s keeping the result in perspective.

The Demons dropped this same match-up in the same round last season, and while the result at Marvel Stadium hurts, there’s no need to panic.

“I don’t like losing games,” the skipper told Melbourne Media after the Round 19 loss.

“When we were going on a streak earlier in the year, I wanted to be 25 and zero, and everyone was like, you need to lose a game at some point.

“I hate losing, I love winning.

“The mood in here is pretty flat. Everyone loves winning, especially against a modern-day rival in the Western Bulldogs.

The Dees led by 13 points at the final change on Saturday night, but Gawn considered that margin to be misleading.

Across the four quarters, the Dogs won some key battles, and with nine more inside 50s and seven more clearances, they ultimately created more opportunities to score.

“It certainly is a missed opportunity and a chance to win a game of football and put us further up the ladder,” Gawn said.

“But we were almost lucky to be in that position throughout the game.

“They played a very good brand of footy.

“They went to school on us and … the dam wall finally broke towards the end of the last quarter.”

After conceding five goals in the final term, the Demons were dealt their fifth loss of 2022.

And with that, comes an opportunity to respond against a Fremantle side which got the better of them in Round 11.

“We’ll go away and look,” Gawn said.

“We look forward to getting out onto our home deck over in Perth.

“We love six-day breaks, we love Friday night footy, we love a chance to be able to get one back against the Dockers.

“As much as I’m thinking about Doggies and what we just gave up then, in this competition you can’t stick around thinking about that.

“I can’t wait for Friday night.”