MELBOURNE captain Daisy Pearce says a slow start and inaccuracy proved to be the reasons for its four-point loss to GWS on Friday.
The twilight fixture was played in heavy and wet conditions at the Blacktown International Sportspark and Pearce said it made the Giants’ early lead harder to overcome.
“You switch off for a half of footy like we did at the beginning of the game and it proved too hard to run down, particularly on a dog of a day like this," she told Melbourne TV.
"You concede three [goals], so it was an uphill battle and we just didn’t get there in the end.”
The midfielder also made mention of the last quarter, where Melbourne kicked five behinds and dominated possession.
“The trademark of our game style has been to outwork and outnumber sides first and foremost," Pearce said.
“To our credit, we probably did achieve that in the last quarter and that resulted in lots of inside 50s and plenty of opportunity, but unfortunately [we] just weren’t able to convert a couple of set shots. Mine was one of them. They just didn’t go the right side of the post.
“We are a young group, so we’ll go back and learn from that, and hopefully we’re better for it, if we end up in a position like this again. You can only look at it that way.”
The clash was the first of back-to-back interstate matches for the red and blue, with the team taking on Adelaide in Darwin for round six next week.
Pearce said the players will learn from their first trip as a team.
“Moving forward we’ll get some experience ... the good sides [that are] going to end up successful in this comp need to travel and get results on the road ... hopefully we’ll turn it around pretty quickly next week," she said.
“Hopefully we’ll take the learnings from today ... given that it’ll probably be pretty greasy being the wet season. It might be good preparation for that, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of taking on Adelaide.
“We have to come in on Tuesday for our first [training] session, turn it around quickly and then shift our focus to Adelaide who are a really good side, but let’s bounce back.”
