MELBOURNE’S lack of forward pressure was a significant factor in its 33-point loss to Collingwood on Queen’s Birthday at the MCG, according to coach Paul Roos.
Roos said the Demons were also unable to produce constant stoppages and enough entries inside 50, which also proved costly in the result.
He added that his side didn’t have any ground level support for its talls, which was also an issue for the team.
“We had two tackles inside our forward 50 and they (Collingwood) had 10. When it went inside their forward 50, they were able to get repeat stoppages and they had good numbers and they were able to get up and back,” Roos said post-match on Monday.
“I thought that was probably the difference in the game – we couldn’t get much forward pressure and multiple stoppages and reentries [inside 50], so that was a big issue for us.”
Roos said the fact that Melbourne booted just three goals for the match was also due to too many turnovers.
“Scoring’s a result of what you do with the footy. We had enough of the football and we played well enough to score, but when you’re 70 or 80 metres out and you kick it to the opposition – it’s pretty hard to score,” he said.
“It’s really the end result … and I thought we had opportunities.
“When we should’ve gone fast, we went slow and when we should’ve gone slow, we went fast. And that’s just part of the education process and they (Collingwood) were a lot slicker with their ball use at times. That was the difference in the end.”