COACH Mark Neeld says a handful of individual performances and some statistics were the only positives from Melbourne’s shocker against Sydney Swans at the SCG on Saturday.
But ultimately Neeld said a “101-point loss was a 101-point loss”.
“If you go through the numbers on the stats sheet, there [are] actually some similarities between us and the Swans on the stats sheet, so I can go through those and find some positives,” he said.
“I thought we weren’t that far off in terms of finding the footy. Our inability to turn those disposals into inside 50 was really poor.
“Mark Jamar and Mitch Clark [showed] their ability to win hit outs, [which] was a positive, but our inability to turn those hit outs into clearances was a concern.”
Neeld said all the Demons could do now was stick to their long-term plan, work hard and strive for answers.
“We’ll continue with the same idea of looking for continual improvement every game we play,” he said.
“It didn’t come today and it didn’t come for a half last week, but that’s what we’ll keep doing.”
Neeld said the Swans’ quick scoring was a massive issue in the thumping.
“We were not able to halt [Sydney],” he said.
“We were getting our hands on the footy, but our inability to turn those disposals into quality inside 50s were the type of things.”
Meanwhile, Jack Watts, who was Melbourne’s best with 34 disposals, said it was a frustrating match.
“The second half, it felt like out there as a player we were in the game,” he said.
“[But] it felt like it was coming off for them and not for us.”
But ultimately Neeld said a “101-point loss was a 101-point loss”.
“If you go through the numbers on the stats sheet, there [are] actually some similarities between us and the Swans on the stats sheet, so I can go through those and find some positives,” he said.
“I thought we weren’t that far off in terms of finding the footy. Our inability to turn those disposals into inside 50 was really poor.
“Mark Jamar and Mitch Clark [showed] their ability to win hit outs, [which] was a positive, but our inability to turn those hit outs into clearances was a concern.”
Neeld said all the Demons could do now was stick to their long-term plan, work hard and strive for answers.
“We’ll continue with the same idea of looking for continual improvement every game we play,” he said.
“It didn’t come today and it didn’t come for a half last week, but that’s what we’ll keep doing.”
Neeld said the Swans’ quick scoring was a massive issue in the thumping.
“We were not able to halt [Sydney],” he said.
“We were getting our hands on the footy, but our inability to turn those disposals into quality inside 50s were the type of things.”
Meanwhile, Jack Watts, who was Melbourne’s best with 34 disposals, said it was a frustrating match.
“The second half, it felt like out there as a player we were in the game,” he said.
“[But] it felt like it was coming off for them and not for us.”
