CO-CAPTAIN Jack Grimes says the Demons need to start getting fair dinkum about winning tight contests, adding that it’s becoming an issue as they continue their improvement under coach Paul Roos.
Grimes said the Dees had coughed up several opportunities this season, including Sunday’s clash against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, when they went down by six points.
“We just have to start getting a bit more serious as a footy club to really knuckle down and just find a way to win those games,” he told Dee TV.
“They’re just killing us at the moment and although we feel like we’re playing better footy, we’ve got to be realistic and we’ve had four wins for the year. We’ve got to do something about it and quick.”
“We just can’t keep losing those ones, which are close like that. For us to move forward as a footy club, we have to start really owning those games, especially when you’re in front in the last quarter.
“We’ve had a few of those games this year where we really fell away in the last five minutes and that’s cost us the games.
“I know we haven’t been in this position a lot in the past, but we need to learn quickly and how to perform under pressure, because we have to start winning those games.”
Grimes said the Demons shot themselves in the foot in the early part of the game, when the Dogs kicked seven unanswered goals during the first half.
“They (the Bulldogs) did to us exactly what we were trying to do to them,” he said.
“We just put ourselves under a lot of pressure and we used the ball really poorly early in the game. We made a lot of costly turnovers.
“Our second half was a lot better, especially that third quarter, but we just can’t start like that against any team … especially the top four or top eight teams – you’ll just get smashed.”
The defender, who kicked two goals for the first time in an AFL match, said the backline had been given a licence to push forward.
“We were encouraged to attack when we had the ball and in that third quarter, we felt like it was the backline that was really bringing the ball up the field and really got the guys in the game,” he said.
“We didn’t do it for long enough, but it’s good to see some good signs like that.”
Looking ahead to next Saturday night’s clash against Fremantle at TIO Stadium in Darwin, Grimes said it was going to be “a massive game” for the Demons.
“A six-day turnaround travelling to Darwin is a big week, so early on [it] will be about recovery,” he said.
“We’ll be reviewing this game pretty hard and what happened at the start of the game.
“You can’t give a team, especially like Freo, a head start like we did today (Sunday). They’re just not going to let you back in. We just really need to get all the boys right … because there are a lot of sore boys.”
