No problems on drinking issue but Territorian Steven May wants success on the ground

TERRITORY Demon Steven May smiles when reminded how a few quiet beers on a Sunday afternoon caused an uproar in football mad Melbourne

Steven May directs traffic in a VFL game. The former Southern Districts defender says his Demons are playing well without converting in front of goal.

TERRITORY Demon Steven May smiles when reminded how a few quiet beers on a Sunday afternoon caused an uproar in AFL circles.

May was not penalised for sipping on a few ales while recovering from a groin injury, despite the media frenzy it caused in footy mad Melbourne.

An apology to teammates was all it took to smooth things over with the Demons’ hierarchy, but May said the whole episode had been blown out of proportion.

“You’re allowed to have a few drinks in rehab, you’ve just got to get it ticked off,’’ he said.

“I had some personal things happen to me and I didn’t contact the correct people, so I made a poor choice by not speaking to them.

“But at the end of the day I had a few beers on Sunday and was home before dinner. It wasn’t the end of the world and I didn’t break any laws.

“But when you’re in a fishbowl like the city of Melbourne when you’re in the middle of footy season, you’ve got to expect that.’’

Meanwhile, May was happy to get through the Collingwood game in the annual Queen’s Birthday match at the MCG.

“It was sort of take two for me against Collingwood after only playing half a game back in Round 2,’’ he said.

“Playing footy in front of 75-80,000 people is one of the reasons I came to Melbourne, I want to be part of these big games and it was a special occasion for Neale Daniher with his MND Foundation.

“Unfortunately the match didn’t got to plan, even though we smashed them in the contested ball and did a lot of things we wanted to do.

“It was the same story, we can’t covert our chances up forward and it’s hurting us a lot.’’

The Southern Districts and Territory product does agree with critics of the Demons, who say poor conversion and skill errors is costing the side wins.

“Talking to Goody (coach Simon Goodwin) this week and he pointed out we’ve been in four of our last six games and lost them all,’’ May said.

“Basic errors and not converting when we do go forward deflates the group a bit, but a few days off, a bit of resetting and can attack the second half of the season.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we do know unless the good work we are doing is converted into a score it’s hard to see the light.’’

The big marking, long kicking defender has the July 21 clash with West Coast in Alice Springs circled in red.

“I was very disappointed I missed the Darwin game, that would have been unreal but I couldn’t prove my fitness and had to play VFL,’’ he said.

“It’s always good to get back to the Territory, it will always be a special place for me.’’