CO-CAPTAIN Nathan Jones says Melbourne is now ready to win matches, having transformed from an almost uncompetitive team in recent times to a much more competitive outfit in 2014.
Given Melbourne’s ability to compete in all but one match this season – except its 93-point loss to the West Coast Eagles in round two – Jones said it was now frustrating not to have claimed more wins.
“We’ve given ourselves a lot of opportunities this year and we’ve fallen short on a few occasions,” he said.
“On the weekend, we had the game in our grasp in that last quarter – we were leading at the 21-minute mark. A lot of the key statistics fell our way, but we weren’t able to convert inside 50 in particular.
“The Doggies took their opportunities and ran away with it, which was disappointing for us. We reviewed the game and there were so many opportunities that we missed and I’m looking forward to hopefully resurrecting that this week and putting ourselves in that position again and hopefully improving.”
Jones said this Saturday’s clash against the Tigers at the MCG was yet another challenge for Melbourne, particularly with the passing of football great and four-time Richmond premiership coach Tom Hafey.
He added that it was akin to the late great Jimmy Stynes passing away in 2012 and that this week’s game would be driven by emotion.
“It’s an individual thing and how the death of someone can affect the individual is almost out of the control of the footy club,” he said.
“It’s a sad time for the Richmond footy club losing Tommy and I think it’s a great opportunity and a great round to reflect on – not only his service to the Richmond footy club – but in terms of his standing and status in the entire competition.
“There will be a great opportunity this round to honour him and Richmond will be paying pretty significant tribute – and it’ll be a pretty exciting game. I’m sure they’ll be pumped up and wanting to perform.”
Meanwhile, Jones said teammates Dean Terlich and James Frawley were working hard to prove their fitness for round nine.
