Melbourne have once more been left to lament their wastefulness after GWS star Josh Kelly snatched a dramatic two-point upset win that leaves the Demons’ top-four spot susceptible.
The Giants appeared destined to fall quick with about two minutes left within the ultimate quarter in Alice Springs when Kelly marked, performed on and launched the winner from near 60m out.
GWS held on for a dramatic 7.5 (47) to five.15 (45) victory that places the Giants (28 factors) 4 factors exterior the eight and leaves the Demons’ top-four spot susceptible.
“I can’t question the players’ effort, I can’t question their want, their desire, really tough conditions – but to have 27 shots at goal, 70 entries, plus 40-odd in the contest and lose a game of footy, that’s tough,” coach Simon Goodwin stated.
“Inefficiency cost us again and it’s something we need to get right
“We’re working extremely arduous on it nevertheless it’s simply not coming collectively … if we maintain that effort and we maintain that work, it’s going to flip fairly rapidly.
“We weren’t able to take opportunities when we had them and our inefficiency cost us the game for a few weeks in a row now.
“So we have to get that proper as a footy membership … we aint stopping in our bid to get higher, we’re gonna maintain engaged on it and ultimately the wheel will flip.”
Melbourne kicked 8.18 in their loss to Geelong, 8.18 in their win over Collingwood and 8.13 when they beat Carlton.
The loss, Melbourne’s second on the bounce, leaves the fourth-placed Demons (36 points) eight points behind third-placed Brisbane and only ahead of the fifth-placed Western Bulldogs on percentage.
Star forward Bayley Fritsch will go for scans after he had his foot stepped on and was promptly substituted for Jake Melksham in the first quarter.
GWS coach Adam Kingsley wouldn’t buy into the idea the Giants had got out of jail, instead hailing his defence.
“The stats will say they have been actually dominant. I assumed that they had actually good patches,” Kingsley stated.
“But I felt like we had our moments too.
“For us to be able to fight, keep strong behind the ball particularly, against a lot of entries … I was really pleased with our performance.”
Giants Tom Green (38 disposals, 16 contested possessions), Kelly (26, two objectives) and Stephen Coniglio (30) had loads of the footy.
Melbourne’s Jack Viney racked up 40 disposals, eight clearances and 607 metres gained and was well-supported by a wasteful Christian Petracca (34 disposals, 556 metres gained).
Petracca kicked 4 behinds within the opening half whereas Toby Greene booted two second-quarter objectives to maintain scores stage at halftime.
GWS got here out of the primary break with higher depth and nudged out to an 18-point lead halfway by the third quarter.
Melbourne fought again and Ed Langdon restored their lead early within the fourth quarter.
GWS snatched victory when Kelly let unfastened with the decisive lengthy bomb.
“It was a wonderful goal,” Kingsley stated.
“Even the decision to ‘I’m going to take this on myself’ and finish – that tells you enough about him”.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
