FORWARD line coach Daniel McPherson says it was a “pretty frustrating” performance from his charges in attack against Essendon last round, but he is confident they can rebound strongly against the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on Sunday.

McPherson said a review of the Essendon clash last Saturday went “deeper” than the missed opportunities in front of goal, but added that poor conversion in front of goal ultimately cost Melbourne its round 15 match. 

“We had the most inside 50s we’ve had all year. We had plenty of opportunities to kick a winning score. To only kick seven goals from 25 scoring shots was pretty disappointing,” he told Dee TV.

“You kick 7.18, plus we kicked another four out of bounds on the full, so there were plenty of opportunities, so that’s the thing that clearly sticks out – really poor goalkicking.

“When you only lose by less than two goals – that’s clearly the thing that people look at straight away … the way we entered 50 as well [was frustrating].”

McPherson said there had been a strong emphasis on retaining the ball inside 50 for this weekend’s encounter.

“It showed in the last quarter when we put Tommy McDonald up there that there are opportunities there when we get on the move and compete,” he said.

“A couple of weeks ago against Geelong, we provided a really strong contest every time we went inside 50.

“That was missing on the weekend and Essendon was able to take out the ball out of our attacking 50 really easily on occasions.”