Paul Roos says Melbourne slaughtered the footy in 37-point loss to St Kilda

MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos was left to lament his side’s “terrible” ball use after the Demons’ mistake-riddled loss to St Kilda.

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA - JULY 26: David Armitage of the Saints tackles Dom Tyson of the Demons during the round 17 AFL match between the Melbourne Demons and the St Kilda Saints at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 26, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/AFL Media/Getty Images)

MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos was left to lament his side’s “terrible” ball use after the Demons’ mistake-riddled loss to St Kilda.

The Demons were appalling by hand and foot in the 37-point loss to the Saints, who pressured Roos’ men into countless clangers.

In wet and windy conditions that demanded simple footy, Melbourne had 17 more handballs than kicks, playing right into the hands of a St Kilda unit that laid 26 more tackles.

“We slaughtered the footy didn’t we?” Roos said.

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“It was very hard to score. I think we made 53 turnovers ... through the midfield and they kicked 6.4 or 6.5.

“But to their credit they were harder around the contest as well. They tackled better and won the contested possession, but we just couldn’t use the ball. Even when we had free targets we seemed to miss them.”

The Dees handballed backwards and sideways, seemingly putting themselves under more pressure with each one and went inside 50m just 44 times.

“They tackled well and their pressure was good, but a lot of it is if you miss that first target it gets picked up under pressure and if you miss the first kick you’ve got three handballs to try and get it back out,” Roos said.

“So if you’re clean with your first possession it does cut out a lot of handballs. If you’re not you tend to get that pressure around you. But their pressure was good and our skills were terrible.”

Asked if Melbourne’s 12th consecutive loss to St Kilda represented a setback for his side, Roos saw the positives.

“We played really poorly and were still in the game. Those sort of games were 100-point losses a year or two ago, but we’ve clearly got a lot of work to do and we know that,” he said.

“Probably the thing we’ll focus on more (is) getting beaten around the contest and getting out-tackled. St Kilda, at the moment, is a similar-aged group doing it better and more consistently.”

Originally published as Paul Roos says Melbourne slaughtered the footy in 37-point loss to St Kilda