DEFENDER Tom McDonald says Melbourne missed a great opportunity to notch up its first win of the season against Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium on Sunday.
McDonald said it was “always flattening” to lose a match that could’ve been won, given Melbourne went down by 32 points after trailing by just one point early in the final term.
“There’s never loudness or mucking around after a game like that – when you’ve lost, the first 24 to 48 hours after a loss is pretty down and pretty quiet,” he said.
“You get into the club on Monday and do our review and it’s still probably a bit of a sombre mood.
“But once you get to Tuesday or Wednesday, if you’re still carrying that around – you’re no chance for the weekend, so that’s where you’ve got to let it go and pick up our spirits mid-week and really look getting forward to next week.”
McDonald said he thought the Demons were in with a “good show”, when defender-turned-forward James Frawley kicked the first goal of the last quarter.
“I just thought the way everyone got around him, there was a good vibe among the group at that stage,” he said.
“I thought ‘if we can get the next goal here, we can really get it going our way’, but the exact opposite happened and it just killed the momentum when you get a goal straight after you’ve kicked one as well.
“It was a frustrating way to finish off.”
McDonald said Roos’ message at three quarter-time was that the game was there to be won.
“The message [from Roosy] was … ‘let’s go and win it’,” he said.
“It was not a day to be fancy and flicking handballs around – it was about getting the ball forward and giving the ball to Chipper (Frawley), Dunny (Lynden Dunn) and Fitzy (Jack Fitzpatrick) for a contest, so little Jay Kennedy-Harris and some of the little fellas could get around their feet and try and get some goals.
“It was not a very elaborate game plan, when the weather was like that – it’s just get it forward and get it moving, so that was the message at three quarter-time.”
McDonald, who played on young Giant star Jeremy Cameron, said he was pleased with his effort and looked forward to many more battles ahead.
“I thought I did a pretty good job – he’s a very opportunistic player and he’s kicked a couple of goals – two snaps over his head. For a big guy, it’s pretty rare for someone to be able to do that, so he’s a very talented player,” he said.
“I think in general, the weather didn’t suit a key forward, but I thought we had a bit of a good contest for the day and I’m looking forward to going at it [against him] for the next few years hopefully.”
With Frawley and Dunn shifted from defence to attack to create some strong marking options, McDonald said the new-look defence worked well together.
“I thought it was really good. [Cam] Pedersen came back, because he’s been playing forward a little bit and [Jeremy] Howe came back and both filled in really well,” he said.
“Alex Georgiou played a bit taller than he has been and did a really good job. I really liked the look that Howey gave us in the contest and then Pedersen gave us in coming over the top, as the third man spoil. He (Pedersen) was really clearing the area and I thought he was really solid.
“Some of the run Howey [gave] earlier, when it was a bit drier, was really positive as well. It does make it hard for a smaller defender to have that run and carry impact, when it gets really wet, but earlier on, I thought he did a good job.”
