THERE were a number of reasons behind Melbourne’s first loss of 2021.

The Demons struggled to get the game on their terms at Adelaide Oval and conceded three late scores to fall by just one point.

But it was the breakdown in defence which ultimately proved costly.

Adelaide slotted 15 goals and scored 76 points from turnovers – Melbourne’s biggest deficit in those categories in the opening 10 rounds of the season.

While it was a disappointing performance, backline coach Troy Chaplin is confident those figures won’t be conceded again.

“It hasn’t been a pattern in our games this year,” he said on The Talking Points.

“I think we’ve been keeping teams to 30 or 40 points (from turnovers), so it’s one out of the blue.

“It’s 85 percent of their score they kicked off of turnover and that’s been one of our biggest strengths.

“We just need to tighten up in a few areas when we don’t have the ball and … that’s what we addressed in the review.”

Of course, the Dees would’ve preferred to have remained undefeated, but the loss has provided an opportunity for the club to learn from its mistakes, with some trends emerging last Saturday night.

“We probably took a few more risks with the ball and our method looked a little bit out of whack as we were transitioning the ball and it bit us on the bum in the end,” Chaplin said.

“It was something that we looked at as a whole team.

“We needed to address it because when you’re coming up against the really, really good teams they’ll put you away and put you to the sword.

“The reality was, we came up against a team that really challenged us and we still [only] went down by a point.

“It wasn’t all doom and gloom – there were still some good things, but there were some things in our game that we just didn’t like, and we probably got the result we deserved in the end.”

To hear Chaplin review the game in greater detail and preview the top of the table clash with the Western Bulldogs, watch The Talking Points below.