LEADER Daniel Cross says Melbourne’s performance “wasn’t good enough” against the Western Bulldogs at Ballarat on Saturday.
Reflecting on Melbourne’s seven-point NAB Challenge win at Eureka Stadium, Cross said to squander a 52-point lead was disappointing, but he added that scoreboard pressure “does amazing things”.
“They (the Bulldogs) had the ascendency towards the middle and end of that third quarter and we didn’t put the clamps on and they got really close in the end,” he told Dee TV.
Cross summed up the day as a game of two halves.
“We were really happy coming into half-time with what we produced. We really wanted to put the foot on the throat and learn to finish off a side, but it was just disappointing the second half,” he said.
“I think guys were still trying, but we were probably just a step or half a step off leaving the contest and they were outnumbering us around the ball.
“When you do that at this level – even though they had a young side – it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, teams are going to score. That was really disappointing to finish off the way we did.
“It was good to win, but we have so much more to improve on before we play round one and we’ll have another chance to do that next week against Essendon.”
Cross said he was determined to play next Friday night against Essendon at Etihad Stadium – and didn’t want to rest before the season proper.
“I felt so much better again [this week], getting that run in the legs,” he said.
“After next week, we have a week off and then round one, so I’d certainly love to play again next week.
“I’m pretty sure Roosy (Paul Roos) wants to play a strong side, so we’ll put our best side out there. We want to play a four quarter performance and last week against Freo was a solid effort, but there was a quarter and a half where we didn’t play that well.
“We need to put four quarters together when we get to round one, because that’s when it all counts.”
Cross said Melbourne needed to treat its final NAB Challenge match against the Dons like round one.
“We’ve got to come out and play our brand of footy,” he said.
