VERSATILE tall Stef Martin says the players are frustrated by their recent up-and-down performances.
Speaking on the back of Melbourne’s 41-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, Martin said the players were hurt after the loss. But he remains optimistic the Demons can work their way through their inconsistency.
“Bails (Dean Bailey) has tried to instill in us that it’s not good enough to have just one win and then go back to having a bad defeat like we have done over recent years,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We knew we didn’t want that to happen, but that’s exactly what’s happened, so that’s pretty gutting for all of us - it’s not good enough.
“Hopefully we can bounce back next week.”
After a promising opening quarter, when the Melbourne kicked seven goals to three, Martin said the Demons simply didn’t take the game on after the first break.
“We came out with all guns blazing,” he said.
“We were on the front foot and somewhere after the second quarter, we found ourselves not switching the ball or attacking it the way we did when we were winning.
“We seemed to be on the back foot rather than being proactive.”
Although Melbourne lost Rohan Bail (knee) and Colin Garland (ankle) through injury during the match, Martin didn’t use their absence as an excuse. But he acknowledged the loss of Bail and Garland was felt.
“In this day and age, it becomes pretty profound when two guys go down with injury,” he said.
“They’re two pretty attacking players, especially Ro being a running player, so it has its toll.
“We still had 18 players on the ground at all times and teams have won and been in that situation before, so [injuries] are no real excuse. It’s just put our backs against the wall.”
Martin, who replaced the injured Mark Jamar in the ruck, was one of Melbourne’s best in the loss.
He collected 20 disposals and won 14 centre hit outs, eclipsing North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein in that statistic.
Martin said he would take some confidence from his game.
“I was trying to compete as hard as I could and hopefully I will be able to give more to the team next week. I would love to do much more, you can always find another gear,” he said.
“To see the guys go so well last week was great from a team perspective, but I want to try and fill Rush’s (Mark Jamar) role as much as I can until he’s back.
“I guess I could, because it was a bit of an unknown for me going in as first ruck, so I can take some things out of the game. I know what to improve on.
Speaking on the back of Melbourne’s 41-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, Martin said the players were hurt after the loss. But he remains optimistic the Demons can work their way through their inconsistency.
“Bails (Dean Bailey) has tried to instill in us that it’s not good enough to have just one win and then go back to having a bad defeat like we have done over recent years,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We knew we didn’t want that to happen, but that’s exactly what’s happened, so that’s pretty gutting for all of us - it’s not good enough.
“Hopefully we can bounce back next week.”
After a promising opening quarter, when the Melbourne kicked seven goals to three, Martin said the Demons simply didn’t take the game on after the first break.
“We came out with all guns blazing,” he said.
“We were on the front foot and somewhere after the second quarter, we found ourselves not switching the ball or attacking it the way we did when we were winning.
“We seemed to be on the back foot rather than being proactive.”
Although Melbourne lost Rohan Bail (knee) and Colin Garland (ankle) through injury during the match, Martin didn’t use their absence as an excuse. But he acknowledged the loss of Bail and Garland was felt.
“In this day and age, it becomes pretty profound when two guys go down with injury,” he said.
“They’re two pretty attacking players, especially Ro being a running player, so it has its toll.
“We still had 18 players on the ground at all times and teams have won and been in that situation before, so [injuries] are no real excuse. It’s just put our backs against the wall.”
Martin, who replaced the injured Mark Jamar in the ruck, was one of Melbourne’s best in the loss.
He collected 20 disposals and won 14 centre hit outs, eclipsing North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein in that statistic.
Martin said he would take some confidence from his game.
“I was trying to compete as hard as I could and hopefully I will be able to give more to the team next week. I would love to do much more, you can always find another gear,” he said.
“To see the guys go so well last week was great from a team perspective, but I want to try and fill Rush’s (Mark Jamar) role as much as I can until he’s back.
“I guess I could, because it was a bit of an unknown for me going in as first ruck, so I can take some things out of the game. I know what to improve on.
