COACH Neil Craig says his side’s poor execution and lack of discipline cost it winning its third match of the season, after Melbourne went down to the Gold Coast Suns by 13 points at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

The Demons were right in the contest at three quarter-time, trailing by just two goals, but they kicked 2.6 to 3.1 in the final term, which frustrated Craig no end. 

“We got ourselves in a position to do that, but clearly in the last quarter, there were too many missed opportunities,” he said.

“We just found a way to lose, so we need to be able to break through that barrier.

“We’ve got to keep pushing in the position. The more opportunity you get yourself in that position, the more opportunity you have to get better at it. We need to get better at it.

“What we’ve got to do is eliminate really poor effort games. [The match] wasn’t about effort – it was about discipline and poor execution.”

Craig said the fact Melbourne had been beaten by the two newest teams in the competition in consecutive weeks was not due to lack of effort. But he could empathise with the club’s supporters, who have been frustrated by its disappointing performances in recent times.

“I think that our performances in general are disheartening for our supporters,” he said.

“What I will say to our supporters, if they can, is stay with us, keep patient – and I understand that they would be sick of hearing that – but that’s all I’ve got for them at the moment.

“What I do know is that the squad that the club is starting to assemble – irrespective of who coaches it next year – it will be a good squad, a very good squad. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us [though].

“The oldest club versus the newest clubs – I don’t get too caught up in that. The oldest club’s got enormous history, tradition, wrote the rules – it’s the Melbourne footy club in the city of Melbourne. They’ve had some outstanding, successful periods in the history of their footy club and our responsibility is to get the club back to those levels.”

Craig said the Suns were “starting to mature and play a bit more consistent footy” and the Giants “have enormous young talent and are starting to show some signs that people would expect”.

Meanwhile, Craig confirmed that midfielder Nathan Jones and rebounder James Strauss both suffered broken noses.

“They’ll be OK,” he said adamantly.

Craig added that veteran Aaron Davey made an impact in the final term, when he kicked a goal to keep Melbourne with a glimmer of hope.

“When he came on, he was very, very good, Aaron,” he said.

“He’s got the speed and his input on the interchange is very, very good. It’s the second week in a row [he was the sub] and whether we can keep going with that, I’m not sure.

“But he played it really well tonight, so it’s a credit to Aaron.”