Shattered Melbourne co-captain Jack Viney rues opportunity lost in preliminary final defeat to West Coast

MELBOURNE midfielder Angus Brayshaw was in tears in the rooms after the Demons' preliminary final smashing, as co-captain Jack Viney opened up on the "shattering" feeling amongst the players for an opportunity lost to end the club's premiership drought.

DEVASTATED Melbourne players openly wept in the Perth Stadium change rooms on Saturday evening as coach Simon Goodwin lamented his midfield’s weak preliminary final capitulation.

The Demons’ engine room was bullied by West Coast and uncharacteristically smashed in contested ball and clearances.

Midfielder Angus Brayshaw embraced mum Debra in a long hug, using her Melbourne scarf to wipe away his tears.

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The 66-point drubbing was the second-biggest loss under Goodwin and the Demons became the first team to endure a goalless first half in a final in 91 years.

Captain Jack Viney said he felt “s---house” and rued a golden opportunity to break the club’s 54-year premiership drought.

“It was a good ride, but at the end of the day I still think this is a very disappointing end to the season,” Viney told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“I felt like we were really in with a shot.

Jack Viney leaves the field after the preliminary final loss. Picture: Michael Klein

“It’s shattering. These opportunities don’t come around very often at all. I felt like we really had a shot and to not get there you just don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.

“We’ve missed an opportunity and you just don’t know when you’re going to get it back again. It’s going to take us a little while to wrap our heads around that.”

Melbourne lost the clearance count 40-32 and the contested ball count 159-144. The Demons entered as the No.1 contested ball team in the AFL.

“All year we’ve stood up for contested ball,” Goodwin said.

“It’s not everything in the game but it’s a big part of the game and it’s a big part of the way we’ve built our club.

“In finals you want to bring your one-wood to the game. You want to bring your big strength.

“We had 34 tackles for the day and lost contested ball. It’s not the game where you want to lose those stats.

“You either win or you learn, and we learnt a big lesson today.”

The Demons tackle count was their lowest in a game since Round 17, 2008. They also registered the fifth-worst pressure rating in an AFL final and their fifth-worst on record.

Angus Brayshaw tried hard all game. Picture: Getty

“Fundamentally West Coast were outstanding around the footy,” Goodwin said.

“They were good at clearance and won the contest and moved the ball really effectively forward of centre.

“They put us under a lot of pressure because really that’s our one-wood. That’s our real strength in our footy club and they took it away from us.”

But the second-year coach backed his young group to keep maturing.

“We’ve got a great group of players that have taken huge strides for this footy club,” Goodwin said.

“In a lot of ways I’m really proud of the strides they’ve taken. We’ve got a group that’s young enough to continue to improve. We’ve still got enormous growth in some of our younger players.

“From a personal perspective I couldn’t be happier with the group of players I’ve got.”

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