CO-CAPTAIN Jack Viney says Melbourne’s two-point loss to St Kilda the MCG on Sunday was simply “a disappointing performance”.
Speaking post-match after the red and blue’s sixth loss for the season, Viney said his team made too many basic errors, which cost it the match.
“[We showed] a bit of fight in the second half of the game, but overall it was a disappointing performance,” he told Melbourne Media.
“The fundamentals hurt us a little bit. Turnovers were pretty costly and they scored off the back of them, so I think that’s what cost us today.
“The good thing is that they’re pretty easy things to rectify. I’m optimistic we can fix those things during the week and improve for next week.”
Viney said the loss to St Kilda, which won its third match of the season and its second in a row, was no worse than any other defeat in the context of the year.
“I think every contest is quite pivotal in this season. The ladder is very tight and wins are very valuable, so we let one go today, for sure and we’re looking to make sure it doesn’t happen again next week,” he said.
“We’ve got some simple fixes that we feel like we need to work on – our inside 50 stuff being one of them, as we had a lot of entries, but we’re not necessarily making the most of them.
“We need to tidy up a few things defensively as well, so we’ve got some clear focuses going into next week. We’re looking to improve them during the week.”
Although Melbourne entered round 15 having lost its past two matches, Viney said his team’s belief was not down.
“Our confidence was good. We had a good week on the track,” he said.
“The competition is so close at the moment and if you come out not playing your best football, there is a strong chance that you won’t come away with a win. Today that was us.
“We didn’t play to the best of our ability and to St Kilda’s credit, they capitalised and played really well and got the win.”