EFFORT was just about the No. 1 word – and focus – for Melbourne entering round eight.

In fact, cynics could’ve suggested that ‘Effort’ was an inclusion in this week’s side.

Quite simply, from a collective point of view, effort was missing from Melbourne’s make-up in round seven, despite its mandatory requirement.

But pleasingly, it returned in round eight, although again, it should never be omitted – ever.  

Still, given Melbourne’s tough season so far, it could’ve been easy to shy away from effort. Instead, it dug deep and showed character, which was the big tick from the game.  

But notwithstanding Melbourne’s effort, it still lost by 34 points.

That too isn’t ideal, but in the context of its season, it was Melbourne’s second best ‘defeat’ for the year. Importantly, though, the Demons were still a chance at three quarter-time, when they trailed by fewer than four goals.

Overall, it was a solid performance against a good opposition, sitting seventh on the ladder with five wins this year.

And this wasn’t lost on Mark Neeld when he reflected on his side’s performance post-match.

“For the most part of it, we observed the boys enjoying themselves and having a crack at it,” he said.

“We still feel that since the GWS game four or five weeks ago, we’ve had one week where people could question the effort us.

“That’s across a five week period, so that’s not too bad,” he said.

Pleasingly for Melbourne, several players stepped up against the Tigers and others continued their strong showings across the season. The inclusion of promoted rookie James Magner, the fine performance of veteran Aaron Davey, and the continued consistency of Dean Terlich and Matt Jones all caught the eye of the coach. 

“Jimmy Magner, yes [his performance] was a positive. He goes about footy in that combative way and he’s been good in the VFL, so it was good for Jimmy to come in,” Neeld said.

“Aaron’s been working really hard - it’s taken a little bit of time for Aaron to get back to a fitness level that can see him running out AFL games, and he’s achieved that. We know that he’s an elite user of the footy, and that clearly stands out in our team.

“His demeanour around the footy club has been great. He’s up for taking the young boys through and teaching them how to play, which is great and full credit to him. It was pleasing that he had an impact on the ground.

“Terlich’s a good one. He just keeps at it and at it, and then every now and then he’ll make an error, but he’s keen to come in and play league footy.”

Given the effort shown against Richmond, Neeld said the challenge now was to back that up against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium next Sunday. Although that trip remains one of the toughest in football, he said it was imperative that his side showed intent and effort against Fremantle.

“That’s a question I’m going to get a bit, isn’t it?” Neeld said.

“We realise that, at some stages, there will be some peaks and troughs.

“We’ll make sure the troughs aren’t too low, and we’ll go through the things that we went through during the week. That’s seeing it, walking through it, talking about it and training it – that boring stuff that coaches talk about.”