AN "EMBARRASSING and insipid effort for the first halfof the game" was coach Neale Daniher's pointed description of Melbourne's performance against Richmond.
The Demons coach didn't mince his words saying he was "disgustedwith the way we played the first half."
Trailing by two goals to 12 at half-time, he said that thesecond quarter was nowhere near the standard expected in AFL football and itwas probably one of the worst performance the club had put in for a long time.
Daniher savagely criticised his players for their "lackof intensity, the ability to get the footy, the ability to use the footy andthe ability to put any pressure on and work hard and chase."
He also said that Richmondwas given far too much space.
"They didn't get any pressure from the MelbourneFootball Club in the first half," daniher said after the game.
"In the second half we played somewhere near, butnowhere near the standard we should be playing.
"It makes me very angry that Melbourne would come along on a Friday nightand put that out for our supporters. I'm just very frustrated and angry withour playing group."
Daniher rejected suggestions that his players had felt toogood about themselves after their recent successes.
"It just shows that in this competition games are veryhard to win. And from everyone who came tonight, I spoke to our senior leadersall the way through, and to put on that performance in the red and blue was amajor, major embarrassment for our club and our team."
When asked whether he could remember a Melbourne team beingso thoroughly beaten out of the middle as they were in the first half, Danihersaid: "It's been a while since I can remember a Melbourne team beingbeaten all over the ground as badly as we did in the first half."
Daniher paid tribute to Demon swingman Ben Holland, whobooted three goals in the third quarter for Melbourne after he was overwhelmed by MatthewRichardson's hard-running in the first half.
"Benny's a great competitor and I thought he showedsome of his more talented teammates how to compete.
"I thought he showed the rest of the team the way weneed to go about playing football."
The coach said the loss had nothing to do with the absenceof skipper David Neitz, who was a late withdrawal because of a finger injury.He did not know whether his captain would be back next week
Daniher said that in hindsight the mid-season break may havehad an adverse effect, but there were no signs at training during the week.However he added that he saw the writing on the wall 10 minutes into the game.
