MIDFIELDER Dom Tyson says his team produced “a game of two halves” against Hawthorn in its 50-point loss at the MCG on Saturday.

Tyson, who was arguably Melbourne’s best with a team-high 30 disposals, said it was a mixed performance by his side.

“They (Hawthorn) got a bit of a jump on us in the second quarter … and we came into half-time and we knew we had to fight our way back into the game,” he told Dee TV.

“We didn’t claw back the buffer we gave them, but we went down by 11 points in the second half, so it was a disappointing result, but it was better than last week – and last week’s last quarter.

“If we can take that effort into next week’s game into the Giants, that’ll be good.”

Tyson said it was a massive challenge coming up against the likes of Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis and Sam Mitchell, but he stood tall among the outstanding experienced trio.

“They’re a really good outfit. They’ve got a-graders wherever you look in the midfield,” he said.

“Wherever you turn, there is a good player, so you’ve got to stand ahead and make sure you pay them their respects.

“It feels like we fought our way back in the second half.”

Tyson said it was a “funny game” to analyse, given Melbourne’s effort was much better than last round’s loss against the Brisbane Lions. 

“It was a step forward, although we’re not happy to say we had an honourable loss by any means,” he said.

“We can’t kick ourselves and be down for next week – we’ve got to find the positives and we can hopefully get the win next week.

“We’ve got to recover well and do our review well and it’s all about next week for us now.

“They’ve (GWS) been in pretty solid form, so it’ll definitely take our best and we know that. We’ve just got to bring all the pressure we can.”

Tyson said he was pleased with his progress this season and said the Melbourne midfield was building strongly for the future.

“It feels like it’s been good to get some confidence in my body and to be able to play week after week now,” he said.

“I’m really enjoying my footy in there with Jack Viney, Nath Jones, Bernie Vince, Crossy (Daniel Cross), Viv [Michie], who came in and Pig’s (Aidan Riley) been in good touch, so it just feels like we’re going through it together now and we’re building.

“It feels like we’re setting ourselves up for a really good midfield group and it’s good to match ourselves against the Hawks and learn from them.”