Paul Roos says some Melbourne players may forever be haunted by club’s appalling recent record

MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos says some of his players will never recover from the mental scarring sustained from the Dees’ past eight seasons and believes their careers are in jeopardy.

AFL Round 19- Melbourne v Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium. Paul Roos leaves the 3/4 time huddle. 3rd August 2014. Picture : Colleen Petch

MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos says some of his players will never recover from the mental scarring sustained from the Demons’ atrocious past eight seasons and believes their AFL careers are in jeopardy.

In a scathing assessment of yesterday’s loss to Brisbane Lions, Roos said the Demons had a mindset where they would wait to get beaten and lashed their skill level as “deplorable”.

MATCH REPORT: SORRY AFFAIR AT ETIHAD

The 23-point loss was Melbourne 19th consecutive defeat at Etihad Stadium and the Demons have saluted just 11 times from their past 68 matches, the worst record in the AFL.

“I haven’t seen anything like that before in my time. The mistakes were extraordinary. Extraordinary,” Roos said just six days after agreeing to coach Melbourne until 2016.

“If you can’t handball five metres to a teammate it’s impossible to move the ball.

“There’s clearly some that might not be able to get over what’s happened here in the past. So they’re the determinations you’ve got to make over the next four weeks.”

The Demons led by 13 points when Rohan Bail goaled early in the last quarter before the Lions peeled off the final majors goals to leave Roos’ side equal bottom on four wins.

Nine Demons tracked at less than 70 per cent efficiency yesterday and they mustered just 34 inside 50s, 26 fewer than the Lions.

In Roos’ past month the Dees have kicked just 25 goals and they are yet to break the 100-point barrier under his tutelage.

“It was just horrible skills. Horrible. There’s no other way you can dice and slice it, it was unbelievable,” he said.

“I think we’re a team that’s waiting to get beaten to be honest. I think we just look up at the scoreboard and we go ‘I’m not sure how we’re in front because we’re playing that poorly’.

“And of course if you wait to get beaten generally what happens is you get beaten.

“I think that lack of belief that we can win or we’re capable of winning is far, far greater than what I imagined it could possibly be.”

Roos and counterpart Justin Leppitsch attacked the AFL’s decision to allow the roof to stay open yesterday with the sun affecting players and, according to the Lions coach, the umpires.

Leppitsch said all of his coaches had wanted it closed.

“I spoke to the umpires before the game and they hate it. It’s too difficult to look through the shade and light and (make tough decisions),” he said.

For day games a decision on the roof is made in consultation with the weather bureau before the gates are opened with the AFL, as the venue hirer, having the ultimate call.

Originally published as Paul Roos says some Melbourne players may forever be haunted by club’s appalling recent record