Eagles see off 'boring' Demons - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Eagles see off 'boring' Demons

By Sam Lienert 15/05/2010 06:59:14 PM Comments (0)

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey accused his side of "boring" football against West Coast, in a performance he deemed as bad as their round one capitulation to Hawthorn.

The Eagles won 10.15 (75) to 6.10 (46) at the MCG on Saturday, notching their second AFL away victory in 25 attempts and their second straight win, after downing the Hawks by eight points at Subiaco last round.

It took the Eagles to a 3-5 record, joining Melbourne on that mark.

While the win had West Coast coach John Worsfold suggesting his side is still in the finals hunt, Bailey was ruing a major form drop-off after what had been six rounds of competitive football since Melbourne's 56-point thrashing from the Hawks.

"Hawthorn was our worst performance - it is probably only the scoreboard that is the difference between this one and Hawthorn," Bailey said.

While the scores were tight until the last term, the Eagles spent almost the entire day in the lead, after key forward Josh Kennedy kicked two goals in the first three-and-a-half minutes, both from superb set shots from tight angles.

Unfortunately, that display of skill failed to set the tone, both sides regularly frittering scoring chances and wasteful in general play.

Scores were level at half-time, before West Coast gradually pulled away with a 5.10 to 1.5 second half.

They could have killed the contest earlier if not for inaccurate kicking, the normally sharp-shooting Mark LeCras the main culprit with 2.5.

At least he and Kennedy took numerous marks in attack, unlike the Demons, whose attack failed to fire.

But Bailey said the major problem was upfield, with too much disposal by hand and slow, wide ball movement.

"To kick 1.5 in a half of footy is very very disappointing and I think we lacked an opportunity to move it with any great speed, we just played slow, we played boring at times," he said.

"Our ball movement was pretty stagnant, it was handball, handball ... they were risk-averse for too often." Key forward Jack Watts, the No.1 draft pick of 2008, took a few nice marks and helped set up two goals, but had only a minor impact in what was his first senior game of the season and fourth overall.

But Bailey said the 19-year-old - often unfavourably compared with West Coast sensation Nic Naitanui, the No.2 pick in the same draft - probably did enough to keep his spot and should not be marked too harshly given the poor service Melbourne gave their forwards.

Melbourne also sustained some injuries, to Aaron Davey (nose), Matthew Bate (ankle) and Cameron Bruce (hamstring).

Worsfold said his team's recent lift in intensity had been the key to their improved results and if they could maintain it, would regularly give them a chance against other young, emerging teams such as the Demons.

He said finals were still in his sights.

"I would love to play in the finals and would hope we can win enough games to play in the finals," Worsfold said.

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