COACH Dean Bailey says he was pleased with his side’s competitiveness for three quarters against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening, but disappointed by its final quarter fadeout.
The Demons remained with the Saints for much of the match, trailing by the narrowest of margins at quarter-time and 16 points at the second and third terms. But a 4.3 to 1.2 final term ended any hope of a red and blue victory over the second-placed St Kilda.
In the end, Melbourne went down by 35 points, which frustrated Bailey.
''We lost the first quarter by a point, we had an even third quarter, second quarter we probably had a couple of soft goals we gave up,” he said during his post-match media conference.
“At three quarter time, if we could have fought the game out, it probably would have ended on a better note.
“But the last quarter was disappointing.”
Bailey said St Kilda capitalised on Melbourne’s errors at every opportunity.
“They (St Kilda) are very good on the turnover and they made us pay in the end. It would have been nice to take a few more chances earlier in the game. Their class and speed got us,” he said.
“I think we took a couple of risks, [but] we just turned it over. We were looking to get [the ball] in long and deep to a tall target.
“We probably went a bit wide sometimes and didn't bring it in as often as we have in the past - you can’t score unless you go inside 50.”
Bailey acknowledged Melbourne’s forward line still needs further refinement.
''I think with our forward line we've had 18 or 19 players go through it already,” he said.
“That's a lot of players to coach, so we'll keep plugging along and getting games into the right blokes.''
But Bailey was pleased with his young charges, such as Jack Trengove, Jordie McKenzie, Tom Scully and Jake Spencer, who kept persisting throughout the match.
''Those sort of blokes were still hanging in there and contributed well,” he said.
“We've still got a few blokes to come back in. Hopefully by the end of the year, we’ll keep ticking them over and we'll find what we've got.
''Four and a half [wins] … we've got to improve on that record for the rest of the year.”
The Demons remained with the Saints for much of the match, trailing by the narrowest of margins at quarter-time and 16 points at the second and third terms. But a 4.3 to 1.2 final term ended any hope of a red and blue victory over the second-placed St Kilda.
In the end, Melbourne went down by 35 points, which frustrated Bailey.
''We lost the first quarter by a point, we had an even third quarter, second quarter we probably had a couple of soft goals we gave up,” he said during his post-match media conference.
“At three quarter time, if we could have fought the game out, it probably would have ended on a better note.
“But the last quarter was disappointing.”
Bailey said St Kilda capitalised on Melbourne’s errors at every opportunity.
“They (St Kilda) are very good on the turnover and they made us pay in the end. It would have been nice to take a few more chances earlier in the game. Their class and speed got us,” he said.
“I think we took a couple of risks, [but] we just turned it over. We were looking to get [the ball] in long and deep to a tall target.
“We probably went a bit wide sometimes and didn't bring it in as often as we have in the past - you can’t score unless you go inside 50.”
Bailey acknowledged Melbourne’s forward line still needs further refinement.
''I think with our forward line we've had 18 or 19 players go through it already,” he said.
“That's a lot of players to coach, so we'll keep plugging along and getting games into the right blokes.''
But Bailey was pleased with his young charges, such as Jack Trengove, Jordie McKenzie, Tom Scully and Jake Spencer, who kept persisting throughout the match.
''Those sort of blokes were still hanging in there and contributed well,” he said.
“We've still got a few blokes to come back in. Hopefully by the end of the year, we’ll keep ticking them over and we'll find what we've got.
''Four and a half [wins] … we've got to improve on that record for the rest of the year.”
