MIDFIELDER Jack Viney concedes the young Demons are starting to battle against their more hardened opponents in the latter part of the year, but says that’s no excuse for their 66-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Saturday.

Viney said there was no doubt his team was finding it tougher coming up against teams such as Fremantle and Geelong in consecutive weeks, but added that it was a challenge they needed to confront.

“We started the season really well and we’re starting to play some real top quality teams now, and it’s starting to show that the boys are getting a bit fatigued,” he told Dee TV.

“Eventually we want to start playing finals, so this is when we’ve got to start playing our better footy, so it’s really not acceptable at this time of the year.

“We’ve got to be better than that and we’ll look forward to next week to rectify it.”

Viney said Melbourne’s first half – when it booted just 2.5 to Geelong’s 11.10 – was too great to turnaround in the second half.

“It was a disappointing day,” he said.

“The first-half especially was really, really poor from us, but to our credit, we only just lost the second half. To the boys’ credit, we didn’t lie down and we fought back a little bit, which was pleasing to see.

“From an overall point of view, it was very disappointing.”

Viney said coach Paul Roos implored his charges to show some character after the main break and to its credit, Melbourne managed to stem the Geelong flow, losing the second half by just seven points.

“Roosy said it was our decision to dig deep and try and bring the boys back into the game,” he said.

“They (Geelong) were beating us in contested footy and all areas, so it was about getting back to playing man-on-man footy, and beating our opponent.

“From my point of view, it was pleasing to see a little bit more fight in the second half, but it was still not as much as we needed.”

Viney, who finished with 20 disposals, said his game was OK.

“I thought it was not too bad. I tried to put on as much pressure on the opposition as I could and I tried to lay some tackles,” he said.

“In the third quarter I won some contested footy, which I liked.

“But I probably didn’t do enough overall, so I just need to keep working on my game.”

As for a knock to the knee late in the game, Viney said there was nothing to worry about.

“I’m all fine, but when I tried to tackle [an opponent], his boot just came up and he kicked me in the shin, so it stung for a little bit, but I’ll be fine,” he said.