KEY recruit Bernie Vince says the Demons must back up their impressive 32-point win over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday with another strong performance next round.
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The Demons host the Gold Coast Suns at the MCG next Sunday and Vince said it was imperative the red and blue put on another strong display.
“It’s exciting for the group. It’s reward for what we have been trying to work on, so it’s important we don’t get carried away either,” he told Dee TV.
“It’s just a win – it’s an important win, but we’ve really got to knuckle down and keep cracking in next week. Recovery is going to be important and we are just not going to stop after one.”
Vince said Melbourne was “coming from a fair way back” so it was critical to get a win on the board to build belief.
“It’s awesome to get the first win on the board. It’s a bit like the Richmond pre-season game – it was a really important win to give us some confidence [with the game plan],” he said.
“When we play to the game plan and do it well, we are right into the game. It’s just about doing it for longer and that’s what Roosy has been onto us about.
“Today was a pretty good four quarter effort; footy is all about momentum and taking your opportunities when you’ve got that momentum. They got a bit of momentum late and kicked a few points, which we were a bit lucky with, but we seemed to be able to kick goals when we had the momentum.
“Goals were a lot easier to score compared to the last few weeks, so hopefully that is a sign of things to come.”
Vince said the return of Chris Dawes in attack proved telling in Melbourne’s structure.
“It was really good having Chris Dawes back – kicking it to him up forward was good and he kicked a few goals that got us going,” he said.
The former Adelaide star said Melbourne stuck to its processes and didn’t worry about the scoreboard.
“Roosy is big on not worrying about the scoreboard – you should be able to tell whether we are playing well, without actually looking up there,” he said.
“I thought it was a really competitive effort from the boys. It was good tacking; we put the pressure on their good ball users and forced turnovers.”
