UTILITY Rohan Bail says Melbourne’s inconsistency throughout its 66-point loss to the West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night was the main theme discussed by the coaches and players immediately after the match.

Although the Demons lost easily, they produced two strong quarters – the second term, when they lost by just eight points, and the final stanza, when they won by five points.

But two disappointing quarters – in the first and third – proved critical in the result, when the Dees lost them by 30 and 33 points respectively.

“We spoke about it (our inconsistency) after the game,” Bail told melbournefc.com.au.

“When we get our structures and everyone’s playing their role right – we compete really well, but we don’t do it for long enough. The first and third quarters were examples of that.

“In the second quarter we started to get on top and then the last quarter we outscored them, but they still had too many coast to coast ball movement patterns.

“So we’ve got to work on our transition and when we go forward, we’ve got to capitalise and then it puts scoreboard pressure on them.”

Bail, who had an equal career-best 24 disposals against the Eagles, said it was his best match for the season. He also returned to the side this round, after being an emergency against GWS.

“I played more in defence. I started on the wing and then we needed some rotation in the backline and I managed to get back there – it was the first time I’ve done that for a whole game this year,” Bail said.

“I managed to get my hands on the ball and I’m still working on my defensive side, when I’m back. It was probably one of my better performances for the year.”

Bail said it was a good reminder to be right on top of his game, after he missed his first match of the season last round.

“Last week I was left out, as I needed to work on my consistency game by game and quarter by quarter. I just needed to keep playing my role,” he said.

“I was back in the side and I managed to play my role and I helped offensively a couple of times, which was good.

“It wasn’t great being out of the side, but you go away and train hard and work on a few things and hopefully it paid off personally.”

Overall, the hard-running Demon said he was pleased with his progression – having produced his best year to date.

“I’m feeling good. At the end of last year, I was challenged and had to push my game a bit – I had a poor year with form and injury,” he said.

“I feel good and I had a really solid pre-season – I didn’t miss a session, especially after Christmas. I thank the coaches for giving me a chance and I have to really play my role to set a foundation and then hopefully the gains will come from that.

“I’ve had a few poor games throughout the year, but if I can get that a bit more consistent, I’ll feel really good.”

Although he has often played as a high half-forward this year, Bail said he enjoyed playing wing/half-back against the Eagles.

“Wherever they need me, I’ll play, but I think I’ve had a couple of good games as a high half-forward. But wing and half-back – I felt like I could get involved and I seemed to use it a bit better, which was good,” he said.

“I also used my run and pushed forward as well.”

With one round remaining, Bail said there were still plenty of positives to draw from this year, despite acknowledging some recent frustrating team performances.

“The second half of the season is where we’ve let ourselves down a bit. We haven’t won a game for a while and there have been a few poor performances where everyone hasn’t played their role – and it’s let us down,” he said.

“It’s still been a really positive year. The first half of the year was really positive and we’ve got to take a bit out of that and really focus on next week and try to take it up to the Kangaroos as best as we can.

“We’ve then got to follow up in pre-season because next year is really important.”