BIG man Max Gawn says Melbourne’s inaccuracy in front of goal and failure to capitalise inside 50 were critical his side’s nine-point loss to Essendon at the MCG on Saturday.

Gawn said it was a “really disappointing” loss, given Melbourne had 25 scoring shots to 19 and 58 inside 50s to 45.

“It’s not very often you get that amount of inside 50s (58). It’s quite disappointing we weren’t able to keep it in there and get a couple of goals from that,” he told Dee TV.  

“We missed a lot of opportunities, but the third quarter set it up. The first half we probably didn’t play our best footy, but we were still in it.

“The third quarter we went away from what we do and then it was too hard to bring the gap back in the fourth.”

Gawn said his team’s inaccuracy in front of goal was a major issue, but he was also disappointed he missed a shot at goal as well.

“7.18 is something we really need to work on when we go back to training on Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said.

“We knew they were going to come out hard from the get-go, and we tried to match that early. But the third quarter we went to sleep and once a side like that gets momentum it was very hard to stop.  

“We went away from the fundamentals of the game in third quarter and we went able to create a contest and keep the ball inside 50. We fell away in the third quarter.”

Gawn, who had a personal best 58 hit outs, said he was really starting to gain confidence in the ruck, particularly after gaining continuity in his game.

“It’s the first time I’ve played five games in a row, so hopefully I can keep that going and play out the rest of the year,” he said.

“But I know I’ve just got to keep doing the things the coaches are trying to tell me to do – a couple of times [Shaun] McKernan got the better of me.

“McKernan obviously got a bit of the ball so there are a couple of things that I need to work on.”