COACH Mick Stinear says he was “shattered and disappointed for the group” after the Demons fell two points short against the Western Bulldogs at VU Whitten Oval on Saturday night.

Stinear praised his team’s effort and commitment throughout its entire 2018 campaign and said it was agonising to fall short of an AFLW Grand Final.

“They put so much work into it. Their commitment in the off-season, before the season even started, with the little things … their ability to get fitter, faster and stronger – and a lot of them took time off work – their high level of commitment has been outstanding,” he said.

“You’d like to think the commitment was worthy of another week in this competition, but it wasn’t to be, so it’s disappointing, because I feel like our group deserved that opportunity.

“But you’ve got to win games and we couldn’t do that [on this occasion].”

With a strong breeze playing a part in the match, Stinear said it was a “super effort” to kick two goals against the wind.

And when his team kicked one into it in the final term, courtesy of Kate Hore at the 15-minute mark, he believed his team could hang on for the win.

But as has often been the case this season, Stinear said he team was unable to capitalise on the opportunities it created inside 50, which again hurt the Demons throughout the match. 

“Too many times we’ve missed opportunities in front of goal and haven’t capitalised,” he said.

“There are so many momentum swings in such a short game – you’ve got to take your chance in front of goal, and that certainly hurt us. But we take that on board.

“We’ve got a lot of young and inexperienced [players] who have come from other sports, so you can’t expect to perfect every time.”

Stinear praised the “extraordinary” performance Karen Paxman, who played 100 per cent of the game.

But he said Sarah Lampard, who played her first match of the season, after suffering a hamstring injury before round one, may have seriously injured her knee.

“Nothing’s been confirmed yet – we hope it’s not the worst for her, because she’s been put through the wringer this season,” he said.

“Fingers crossed for her, but we’ll wait and see what they are.

“There are too many good players and people across the competition that are being struck down by injury.”