Inconsistency hurts us, says Bailey
Melbourne coach says the up and down form of his team makes it hard for his players to build self-belief
MELBOURNE will not be able to build confidence and self-belief if it cannot string two solid games together, according to coach Dean Bailey.
The Demons lost to Collingwood by 88 points on Monday, just 10 days after an emphatic win over the more-fancied Essendon.
It was a familiar tale for the Demons, whose only consecutive wins in 2011 came early in the season against the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns.
"Our inconsistency doesn't build any confidence at all. Only through consistency will we be able to build a confidence that goes from week to week," Bailey said after the Queen's Birthday clash.
"There was no consistency today. Absolutely. It was an extremely poor effort in front of a large crowd for a very important day for us. We were disappointing today. Very, very disappointing."
Bailey said he was annoyed that his team struggled in front of what is traditionally the biggest crowd it plays in front of this season against the reigning premiers.
"We came here today off a good win last week and the confidence we grew out of last week's game was important. A real motivating factor was to play well today. There was a lot for us to play for today," he said.
"We sit here very disappointed with the effort, and it is not good enough. Regardless of last week's result, you get measured on the following week and we were very poor today in all the key areas of the game."
The Demons conceded 19 goals in the loss, but Bailey said that was more the fault of the midfielders than the backs, who had to contend with an astonishing 74 Collingwood entries inside 50.
"On a couple of occasions it was more the lack of midfield pressure or the speed that Collingwood were able to win the ball in the middle of the ground and gave them an inside 50 kick," he said.
"If you give any team the space and time to kick inside 50, they hurt you regardless of who you're playing against.
"I thought our backs were let down. We didn't give them enough midfield pressure to give them the opportunity to compete. A couple got in over the back. The delivery or the lack of pressure up the ground really showed."
