Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin empathetic to fans after Demons’ loss to Essendon
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he is “hurting” after the Demons went down to Essendon to make it three losses in as many starts and he feels the pain of the club’s long-suffering supporters.
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Simon Goodwin says he feels the pain of Melbourne’s long-suffering supporters, adamant he is trying to rectify the Demons’ issues before their finals chances suffer a mortal blow.
The Demons plunged to 0-3 with an 18-point loss against Essendon, with Sydney the only team of the 30 to start the year with three losses to play finals since 2010.
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Once again Melbourne’s glaring issue was its inability to stop inside-50s from being converted into goals, conceding 30 scoring shots from 53 inside-50s.
The Demons take on Sydney off a six-day break next Thursday at the SCG, with Goodwin saying he wasn’t even considering the club’s finals chances given the winless start.
Instead, he says the entire team needs to buy into team defence after another frustrating night where more inside 50s didn’t convert into a valuable win.
“I feel for the (fans). I am hurting as a coach for where we sit at 0-3, our players are hurting, our staff are hurting and I know our supporters are hurting,” he said.
“My message is we will keep going and keep improving and try to find ourselves in some really good form. Nothing will turn that around but hard work and looking at how we can get better. It’s pretty simple.”
“I think elements of our game get better every week but we need to connect better and do it for longer. We are inconsistent in all phases of our game, we need to do it for sustained periods of all time, not 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there.”
Mick Malthouse mocked Melbourne’s premiership chances earlier this year and the football world scoffed in unison.
The Demons had to “get over themselves”, said Malthouse, because they played like millionaires who didn’t put the foot to their opponent’s throat.
But, as the dust settles on the third consecutive loss, Malthouse is Nostradamus and Melbourne will now need to perform miracles to play finals.
Tom McDonald returned to the field after a nasty ankle injury and will have to be assessed with a short break but has kicked only one goal all year.
Veteran defender Jordan Lewis will miss another week and likely return in Round 5 against St Kilda.
“There are parts of our game that are unacceptable at the moment,” Goodwin said.
“Two weeks in a row we conceded 50 entries against and conceded 130 points. It’s a phase of our game when done well enables you to hang in for longer. We are getting scored against way too easily and it’s an issue for the last two or three weeks. In the end that was the game.”
Jake Lever and Steven May aren’t back any time soon, so it’s hard to see how the defensive woes change, with Oscar McDonald and Jack Frost in the key back six posts.
And Melbourne’s own forward line had its best moments when Tom McDonald was off the ground with an ankle injury, those midfielders forced to hit up smaller leading targets.
Originally published as Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin empathetic to fans after Demons’ loss to Essendon
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