MIDFIELDER/forward Colin Sylvia says the team remains optimistic it can turn its fortunes around in the second half of the season.
Although Sylvia acknowledged it had been a roller-coaster ride this year, he said the Demons still had plenty to gain from 2011.
“There’s still 11 games left, so we’re halfway, and we just really hope we can get the most out of these eleven weeks,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We need to really find what’s missing at the moment with this consistency issue, and hopefully we really improve and move forward with this year, notch up some more wins and finish the season really well.”
Sylvia said the Queen’s Birthday loss against Collingwood was one that hit the players hard.
“You look at the game and the build up, and the preparation that we’ve put in for the last 10 days, and the hype - we’ve really pumped this game up to be one of the biggest games of the year for us and our supporters,” he said.
“We had one week against Essendon last week, and that consistent effort last week was really good, but to drop from one week to the next is really disappointing.
“I really learned that the number one area we need to work on at the moment is our consistency.
Although he conceded the team needs to lift its work-rate, he said remaining confident was a key.
“We’ve just got to back ourselves in,” he said.
“You look back at the game against Essendon, and the confidence in the way we moved the ball, went for our kicks, hit the free guy out in space.
“[Against Collingwood], I felt we hesitated a bit, a few things didn’t go our way. We went into our shells a little bit, lost a bit of confidence.”
After receiving a corked thigh and being substituted out of the match against Essendon in round 11, Sylvia fought back with four of Melbourne’s six goals against the Pies. But it was all about the team for the talented Demon.
“My game could still improve a lot,” he said.
“It was pretty tough in there with the amount of turnovers, and the way we moved the ball.
“I’m always happy to snag a couple, but the team’s performance always comes first, and from that perspective it was really disappointing.
He said he had to work hard to get his injury right for round 12.
“The corkie got me right in the middle of the quad, and really locked up last week,” he said.
“I tried everything to get out there last week, but it was just letting down the team if I continued to play on. I was 50-50, so Nicho (Daniel Nicholson) came on and made a real impact, I thought.
“Over that weekend all I did was ice it - had a pretty boring weekend, really, but did everything right with the rehab, and got myself up to play against Collingwood.”
Although Sylvia acknowledged it had been a roller-coaster ride this year, he said the Demons still had plenty to gain from 2011.
“There’s still 11 games left, so we’re halfway, and we just really hope we can get the most out of these eleven weeks,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We need to really find what’s missing at the moment with this consistency issue, and hopefully we really improve and move forward with this year, notch up some more wins and finish the season really well.”
Sylvia said the Queen’s Birthday loss against Collingwood was one that hit the players hard.
“You look at the game and the build up, and the preparation that we’ve put in for the last 10 days, and the hype - we’ve really pumped this game up to be one of the biggest games of the year for us and our supporters,” he said.
“We had one week against Essendon last week, and that consistent effort last week was really good, but to drop from one week to the next is really disappointing.
“I really learned that the number one area we need to work on at the moment is our consistency.
Although he conceded the team needs to lift its work-rate, he said remaining confident was a key.
“We’ve just got to back ourselves in,” he said.
“You look back at the game against Essendon, and the confidence in the way we moved the ball, went for our kicks, hit the free guy out in space.
“[Against Collingwood], I felt we hesitated a bit, a few things didn’t go our way. We went into our shells a little bit, lost a bit of confidence.”
After receiving a corked thigh and being substituted out of the match against Essendon in round 11, Sylvia fought back with four of Melbourne’s six goals against the Pies. But it was all about the team for the talented Demon.
“My game could still improve a lot,” he said.
“It was pretty tough in there with the amount of turnovers, and the way we moved the ball.
“I’m always happy to snag a couple, but the team’s performance always comes first, and from that perspective it was really disappointing.
He said he had to work hard to get his injury right for round 12.
“The corkie got me right in the middle of the quad, and really locked up last week,” he said.
“I tried everything to get out there last week, but it was just letting down the team if I continued to play on. I was 50-50, so Nicho (Daniel Nicholson) came on and made a real impact, I thought.
“Over that weekend all I did was ice it - had a pretty boring weekend, really, but did everything right with the rehab, and got myself up to play against Collingwood.”
