20/07/2008 11:30 PM
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey has rejected any notion the wooden spoon is almost certainly heading to his club, despite a dismal performance against fellow struggler Fremantle at Subiaco on Sunday.
The Demons started superbly in the encounter, moving out to a 34-point lead during the early stages of the second-term. But it all went wrong for Melbourne as Fremantle lifted its intensity from then on, harrassing Melbourne into mistakes and piling on 16 goals to five as the Dockers cruised to a comfortable victory.
The result was Fremantle's third win of the season, consolidating its hold on 14th on the ladder as West Coast and Melbourne remain in 15th and 16th respectively with just two wins.
But any mention of the spoon was enough to make Bailey's hackles rise.
"We're in it to win it, we're not in it to finish last," said Bailey.
"I'm concerned (about the wooden spoon), I don't want to finish last and we're going to improve, we're going to look at next week to try and win the game," he said.
Bailey said that while his players looked good early in the encounter, they could not handle Fremantle's pressure from quarter-time onwards.
"In the first quarter we were moving it pretty well (and) we expected our ball movement to repeat the second quarter as it did in the first quarter but they didn't allow us," he said.
"They brought some pressure and we gave away some free kicks as well and that cost us and on the turnover they hurt us and it's disappointing."
Bailey said his player's poor decision-making under pressure was particularly frustrating after several encouraging performances over the last few matches.
"Outside of the St Kilda game, our decisions and our ball movement through the middle of the ground has been okay," Bailey said.
"In the first quarter our decision making was good, we had lots of options and people were working hard for each other and to Fremantle's credit they really pressured us into mistakes,"
"Decision making is an important part of the game and we let ourselves down," he said.