COACH Paul Roos says Melbourne couldn’t use the humid Darwin conditions as any reason for their 63-point loss to Fremantle at TIO Stadium on Saturday night.
Roos acknowledged the conditions were slippery in the second half, but didn’t use it as an excuse before half-time.
“The first half was the story and times of our season. We coughed the ball up so easily and they (Fremantle) prey on turnovers better than any team in the competition,” he said.
“We would’ve given them six or seven really easy goals. At the end of the day, the result is a 10-goal game and they pressure you into it and they’ve very good at it.”
Roos said his side again simply squandered opportunities.
“You have to take your chances. You can’t miss goals from the top of the goalsquare,” he said.
“At one stage, it should’ve been three [goals] all. [Chris] Dawes and [Jack] Grimes missed, [but if they kicked goals] – it [would’ve been] three [goals] all and mentally you’re still in the game. You miss them and [Fremantle’s] 6.1 at half-time.
“They (Fremantle) do the basic things well over and over again. They’re really hard at the contest and they tackle really well. Their set ups are predictable. They do it over and over and over and over and over again. That’s what makes them so hard. They’re just happy to grind you away.”
Roos said Fremantle had the ability to adapt to any type of game.
“If it’s a high-scoring game, they’re happy to kick goals. If it’s a low-scoring game, they’re happy to do that. It’s the sign of a real quality side that it can play so many different ways,” he said.
“I think they’re really sound at what they do around the contest, which makes it so hard.
“Their big bodies and their mids are centre half forwards and centre half backs [in size], like [Nat] Fyfe, [Michael] Barlow and [David] Mundy. They’re a big, physical team and they’re very, very hard to compete against for 120 minutes.”
Although Melbourne had few winners on the day, Roos praised a handful of his troops.
“I thought Tom [McDonald] was good. I thought [Dean] Kent worked really hard up and back. I thought Bernie [Vince] was good, because he basically played on two players for most of the night with Fyfe and [Ryan] Crowley. I thought he really persevered,” he said.
“I’d have to look at the game again to absolutely know who our best players were.
“Even their [best players] – you look at the stats more than anything, but again it’s their ability and their team concept.”
Roos added that James Frawley is set to spend greater time down back for the rest of 2014.
“He’ll probably play back a little bit more than forward in the seven games to go,” he said.
