DOM Tyson says Melbourne lacked intensity in its four-point loss to North Melbourne in Hobart at Blundstone Arena on Saturday.
Tyson said Melbourne let itself down by not executing aspects of its game plan and that the Kangaroos were simply the better team on the day.
“At three quarter time, we felt like we were in a strong position to kick on and have a good last quarter but North were able to shut the game down and we didn’t deal with it,” he told Melbourne TV.
“The wind affected the scoring end – we felt that we didn’t play the way we wanted to play in the last quarter.
“We let ourselves down but North played a good brand of footy today.”
Tyson said there were a number of factors that hurt Melbourne in its loss to North Melbourne, who it hasn’t defeated since 2006.
“Turnovers are always a part of it – there’s mistakes in every game but it’s how you fight back off turnover or a mistake and how you get your numbers over.
“We just weren’t quick enough to get to the ball and we had a few missed tackles.
“We didn’t execute too well heading inside 50 late in the game either - it was a tight game and it could have gone either way at the end so that definitely hurt us.”
Collecting 30 disposals in his second game back since being sidelined with a knee injury, Tyson said his focus was team first.
“I set myself to come back mentally fresh and in a good spot to have a strong four or five week period with the team and contribute as best I can.
“I feel like we’re generally getting a lot of contributors to the side.
“Today we let ourselves down a bit but we’ve got a lot of contributors when we play our best – there’s just those little lapses that we’ve got to correct.”
Looking ahead to next week’s clash against the GWS Giants in Canberra, Tyson said Melbourne would regroup quickly.
“There’s still plenty to play for this year so you can’t hang onto your losses for too long,” he said.
“You get your Monday review done and then start training and move on. We’ll shift our focus to GWS as soon as we can.
“We’ve got a tough opponent next week; if we sit on this one and let it dwell, we might miss a beat heading into our preparation for next week.”
Plenty to play for in 2017: Tyson
Dom Tyson says Melbourne will regroup from disappointing loss