OUTSTANDING youngster Jack Grimes has spoken of his frustration behind Melbourne’s slow starts, which once again proved costly against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
The Demons trailed by 21 points at quarter-time and 41 points at half-time, before mounting a comeback in the third term. Although the Dees pegged the deficit back to 25 points at the final break, the Crows broke away again in the last quarter, winning by 44 points.
Grimes said his team was up against it due to its sluggish first term.
“It just gets back to our starts,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We kept talking about it all through the week. We knew it was so important, but it wasn’t good enough again and we were pretty much out of the game early on.
“It was too much to bridge, so that was pretty much it in summary.”
Although Melbourne kicked 5.1 to 1.9 in the third quarter, Grimes said there was genuine belief among the group at the last huddle.
“We thought we were in it in the third quarter and at three quarter-time. We started playing the way we wanted to play - through the corridor and taking risks,” he said.
“But we ran out of legs in the end and it came back to our starts again, because we wasted so much of our energy chasing them in the first half. Then in the second half, we didn’t have the energy to go on with it.
“It reiterated that point that we must start well and we need to do that against St Kilda next week.”
Grimes was one of Melbourne’s best across half-back and in the midfield with a team-high 26 disposals.
He relished the opportunity to push into the middle, after impressing in defence this year.
“It was good to get a bit of a run through the midfield in the second half,” Grimes said.
“I haven’t spent that much time there and it was good to get a little bit of freedom.
“I enjoyed that third quarter when we started to get on top of them and we started to get a bit more through the midfield - we were playing the way we wanted to play.
“It was an enjoyable quarter, because we felt we were getting back on top of the game. But then you think ‘why couldn’t we do that in the first quarter?’
The Demons trailed by 21 points at quarter-time and 41 points at half-time, before mounting a comeback in the third term. Although the Dees pegged the deficit back to 25 points at the final break, the Crows broke away again in the last quarter, winning by 44 points.
Grimes said his team was up against it due to its sluggish first term.
“It just gets back to our starts,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We kept talking about it all through the week. We knew it was so important, but it wasn’t good enough again and we were pretty much out of the game early on.
“It was too much to bridge, so that was pretty much it in summary.”
Although Melbourne kicked 5.1 to 1.9 in the third quarter, Grimes said there was genuine belief among the group at the last huddle.
“We thought we were in it in the third quarter and at three quarter-time. We started playing the way we wanted to play - through the corridor and taking risks,” he said.
“But we ran out of legs in the end and it came back to our starts again, because we wasted so much of our energy chasing them in the first half. Then in the second half, we didn’t have the energy to go on with it.
“It reiterated that point that we must start well and we need to do that against St Kilda next week.”
Grimes was one of Melbourne’s best across half-back and in the midfield with a team-high 26 disposals.
He relished the opportunity to push into the middle, after impressing in defence this year.
“It was good to get a bit of a run through the midfield in the second half,” Grimes said.
“I haven’t spent that much time there and it was good to get a little bit of freedom.
“I enjoyed that third quarter when we started to get on top of them and we started to get a bit more through the midfield - we were playing the way we wanted to play.
“It was an enjoyable quarter, because we felt we were getting back on top of the game. But then you think ‘why couldn’t we do that in the first quarter?’
