AFL finals: Melbourne need to address scoring efficiency fast

The expected score said Melbourne should have beaten Collingwood by four goals, but their lack of scoring from forward domination needs a quick fix.

Christian Petracca says the Demons need to be more efficient in front of goal. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Melbourne star Christian Petracca conceded his team‘s scoring efficiency needed immediate attention in the wake of a qualifying final loss the “expected score” suggested the Demons should have won by four goals.

A set-shot miss just before three-quarter time, albeit from close to the boundary, by Petracca was one of a series of crucial missed opportunities for the Demons, including three in the final quarter, which left Melbourne seven points short of Collingwood at full-time.

The statistical analysis made sorry reading for the Demons who finished with a massive 32 more inside 50s, fuelled mainly by their second half-domination, and 18 scoring shots to Collingwood’s 17 but lost 9.6 to 7.11.

Forwards Bailey Fritsch, Tom McDonald and Kozzie Pickett all squandered chances to kick goals in the final term, with Pickett also spraying a snap in the third term.

An uncharacteristic miss from Fritsch! 😱

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Winger Ed Langdon also squandered what could have been a set shot for Fritsch in the third term by taking the advantage from a free kick to the forward, only to miss his dribble shot at goal.

The inability to seize opportunities made the loss all the more hard to take for Petracca, who, along with captain Max Gawn and fellow midfielder Clayton Oliver, worked to the point of exhaustion against the ladder-leading Magpies.

With an impending must-win clash against the winner of Friday’s clash between Carlton and Sydney now in front of Melbourne as they look to progress to at least a preliminary final, Petracca said the positives were obvious in his team’s front-half domination.

But he said that efficiency, with Collingwood scoring its nine goals from just 37 inside 50s compared to Melbourne’s seven from 62, had to be fixed.

“It was disappointing, it’s really flattening,” Petracca said.

“We left it all out there in the last quarter but it was all a bit too late. First half was where we let them dictate the play.

“The pleasing sign to take away was we were plus 31 on inside 50s, the expected score was four goals up, our contest and defence were very good.

“It’s probably an efficiency thing, which we are not foreign too, so it’s back to the drawing board. We have to regroup again, we have to play a game in eight days time.”

Simon Goodwin needs to fix his team’s forward line woes. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin couldn’t shy away from his team’s poor execution close to goal and conceded he and his team had a “lot to work on in that space”.

“It‘s a little bit how we play. We’ve had some games where we get a lot of repeat inside 50s, it’s a little bit from a method perspective,” he said.

“We just didn’t execute as well as we would have liked from our inside 50s, and that shows up on the scoreboard.

“We didn‘t kick a big enough score to win. We’ve still got a bit to work on in that space.

“We played the game the right way for three quarters. Yeah, we didn‘t execute in front of goal and we didn’t get enough reward for our entries, but it’s the right way to play.”

Originally published as AFL finals: Melbourne need to address scoring efficiency fast