COACH Dean Bailey says he is isn’t surprised his side is 10th on the ladder and with eight and a half wins, following 19 rounds this season.
Speaking post-match after Melbourne’s 29-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, Bailey said he expected the Demons to around this mark at this stage of the season.
“It’s about where we thought it would be,” he said.
“It certainly hasn’t exceeded where we think, but it’s progressed from last year.
“I think it’s pretty much where I thought we should be, to be honest.”
Focusing on the match, Bailey said his team made a number of errors early on, before hitting its straps in the final term.
“I think there were a lot of mistakes made. There was some good pressure from the Tigers. You’ve got to give them credit, where credit’s due,” he said.
“I thought we turned the ball over too often. Our turnovers really could have cost us, but I thought our ability just to hang in there [was the difference].
“It took a couple of goals from Lynden Dunn and Brad Green to stem the flow - just to keep us in the game, but we certainly turned the ball over too much, there’s no question.”
But Bailey was pleased with his team’s last quarter, when it booted six goals to two.
“We turned the ball over less in the last quarter,” he said.
“We took our opportunities. A couple of times we had some really good forward pressure in there, which resulted in some opportunities to score. It was really good to get 10 to 12 points in front.
“And then Liam Jurrah marks the footy and it was a really important set shot, which was good to see. Even though he’d had a couple he’d missed during the game, he hung in there and kicked the one he needed to kick.”
Speaking post-match after Melbourne’s 29-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, Bailey said he expected the Demons to around this mark at this stage of the season.
“It’s about where we thought it would be,” he said.
“It certainly hasn’t exceeded where we think, but it’s progressed from last year.
“I think it’s pretty much where I thought we should be, to be honest.”
Focusing on the match, Bailey said his team made a number of errors early on, before hitting its straps in the final term.
“I think there were a lot of mistakes made. There was some good pressure from the Tigers. You’ve got to give them credit, where credit’s due,” he said.
“I thought we turned the ball over too often. Our turnovers really could have cost us, but I thought our ability just to hang in there [was the difference].
“It took a couple of goals from Lynden Dunn and Brad Green to stem the flow - just to keep us in the game, but we certainly turned the ball over too much, there’s no question.”
But Bailey was pleased with his team’s last quarter, when it booted six goals to two.
“We turned the ball over less in the last quarter,” he said.
“We took our opportunities. A couple of times we had some really good forward pressure in there, which resulted in some opportunities to score. It was really good to get 10 to 12 points in front.
“And then Liam Jurrah marks the footy and it was a really important set shot, which was good to see. Even though he’d had a couple he’d missed during the game, he hung in there and kicked the one he needed to kick.”
