COACH Paul Roos says he was incredibly frustrated by his side’s inability to quell young Magpie Adam Oxley.

Speaking after his side’s 25-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Monday, Roos said Melbourne tried to stem the influence of Oxley, who finished with 30 disposals, including 24 uncontested possessions and 13 uncontested marks, and mopped up when the Demons attacked inside 50.

In summarising what happened, Roos said his team quite simply didn’t follow instructions.

“We did [try to stop him], but unfortunately our players weren’t able to carry it out,” he said.

“I saw a Sherrin hit a Boeing 737 there at one stage and it came down and still landed in his lap.

“They’re the things that are disappointing – our forwards’ inability to compete.”

Roos said he was bitterly disappointed that his forwards didn’t halt Oxley’s play after half-time.

“I thought our forwards were really poor at competing after half-time,” he said.

“There were so many high balls that went in, which shouldn’t have been marked.

“It wasn’t like we were hitting him lace out – they were actually balloon balls coming in and he should’ve had a man on him after half-time, but he didn’t.”

Roos said players’ inability to follow instructions was “why people don’t want to be coaching, because sometimes they don’t listen to you.”

“[Assistant coach] Benny Mathews has got a good saying. His dad used to tell him ‘two ears and one mouth’. Listen twice as often as you speak – something we spoke about after the game,” he said.

“We’ve got a combination of younger players and players from other clubs, so it’s the inability to listen, [which] is an issue.”
Roos said the coaches explained to the players what they wanted from them, but he wondered if they needed to explain it better in the future. 

“But really, that wasn’t the difference in the game. Fitzy (Jack Fitzpatrick) was playing tunnel ball and we kicked it back to them far too often. The difference was just the ball use,” he said.

“Even when Oxley was free, we had Crossy (Daniel Cross) free and he took five marks from oppo kicks. Oxley had eight in the end, so really the difference in the game was our inability to use the ball, and at key moments they were able to do it well.

“You play the way you want to play, and you cut your cloth with your team around the way you want to play.”