TODD Viney has not given up on playing in this year’s finals, although the interim coach is remaining realistic about Melbourne’s chances.
The Demons must win their last three home-and-away matches and hope for other results to fall their way, if they are to play in their first finals series since 2006.
Viney jokingly said he had “been kicked in the backside” after he stated from the outset that he would be caretaker for five weeks.
“I was part of the 1987 team that came from nowhere to play in the finals series and went to a prelim final. So, yes, anything is possible,” he said.
“We’re not putting ceilings on the guys, but there are a lot of things we need to get right. At the moment, we need to improve quite substantially to get a win.”
Viney said his side is not good enough on form at the moment to contest in the finals, but he added that Melbourne's form could turn around quickly.
“It can happen really quickly and there are plenty of examples of teams that hit finals form in the last three or four weeks with a lot of momentum," he said.
“We haven’t got the momentum at the moment, but it can start with this week and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Aside from two poor second quarters in the past two weeks, Viney has been pleased with aspects of Melbourne’s performances.
“The footy we’ve played in the past two weeks has been all right, apart from our second quarters, which has been a disaster. And we need to tighten that up,” he said.
“We’ve spoken about getting our structures right, our contested ball right and our defensive intent and we’ve done it for periods of the game.”
Meanwhile, Viney said forward Liam Jurrah was 50/50 to play this round, after battling injury.
“Liam didn’t play last week. He had a bit of a sore quad, but he’s physically running near flat out,” he said.
“He’s got to train today and tomorrow, which is the main training session. His form in the VFL the week before was very good, so he’ll come into consideration.”
The Demons must win their last three home-and-away matches and hope for other results to fall their way, if they are to play in their first finals series since 2006.
Viney jokingly said he had “been kicked in the backside” after he stated from the outset that he would be caretaker for five weeks.
“I was part of the 1987 team that came from nowhere to play in the finals series and went to a prelim final. So, yes, anything is possible,” he said.
“We’re not putting ceilings on the guys, but there are a lot of things we need to get right. At the moment, we need to improve quite substantially to get a win.”
Viney said his side is not good enough on form at the moment to contest in the finals, but he added that Melbourne's form could turn around quickly.
“It can happen really quickly and there are plenty of examples of teams that hit finals form in the last three or four weeks with a lot of momentum," he said.
“We haven’t got the momentum at the moment, but it can start with this week and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Aside from two poor second quarters in the past two weeks, Viney has been pleased with aspects of Melbourne’s performances.
“The footy we’ve played in the past two weeks has been all right, apart from our second quarters, which has been a disaster. And we need to tighten that up,” he said.
“We’ve spoken about getting our structures right, our contested ball right and our defensive intent and we’ve done it for periods of the game.”
Meanwhile, Viney said forward Liam Jurrah was 50/50 to play this round, after battling injury.
“Liam didn’t play last week. He had a bit of a sore quad, but he’s physically running near flat out,” he said.
“He’s got to train today and tomorrow, which is the main training session. His form in the VFL the week before was very good, so he’ll come into consideration.”
