COACH Dean Bailey has remained measured about predicting the make-up of Melbourne’s round seven team against Adelaide at the MCG on May 8.
The Demons suffered a poor 54-point loss to West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium on Thursday night, but Bailey did not flag any drastic team changes at this stage.
“We’re immediately after the game, so we’ll make those decisions at match committee during the week,” he said.
Bailey said he didn’t have his crystal ball with him to anticipate the dismal result against the Eagles.
But he indicated it would be too early to write off the Demons at this stage of the season, considering they are 2-1-2 after five matches.
“The season’s over 22 weeks, so we’ll wait and see at the end of the year to see how the season pans out,” he said.
“Our immediacy is to get on the front foot at training and ensure that our performance next week is a lot better than what we produced [against West Coast].”
But when pressed if he expected greater criticism following the loss, Bailey said: “I think when the game gets analysed and you get beaten by the amount we did and the way we played, I think that’s the nature of the business we’re in.”
Despite the frustrating result, Bailey was pleased with young forward Jack Watts and 100-game ruckman Mark Jamar.
“Jack took a couple of nice marks and his work-rate was there and he did a couple of pretty smart things during the game, which was pretty good,” he said.
“Russian (Jamar) has been pretty consistent with his efforts and he prides himself on his performance, [particularly] in his 100th game. He wanted to really play well.”
“The season’s over 22 weeks, so we’ll wait and see at the end of the year to see how the season pans out,” he said.
“Our immediacy is to get on the front foot at training and ensure that our performance next week is a lot better than what we produced [against West Coast].”
But when pressed if he expected greater criticism following the loss, Bailey said: “I think when the game gets analysed and you get beaten by the amount we did and the way we played, I think that’s the nature of the business we’re in.”
Despite the frustrating result, Bailey was pleased with young forward Jack Watts and 100-game ruckman Mark Jamar.
“Jack took a couple of nice marks and his work-rate was there and he did a couple of pretty smart things during the game, which was pretty good,” he said.
“Russian (Jamar) has been pretty consistent with his efforts and he prides himself on his performance, [particularly] in his 100th game. He wanted to really play well.”
