To me this seems to be our great downfall. On the weekend Melbourne got the upper hand when they had time to give out handballs from stoppages. In the first half if they touched the ball in a stoppage they were given the bums rush, but in the second they had time and space, and with usually around 4 handballs they could clear the space.

To me there are various reasons for this, undermanned midfield, last week taking it's tole (I know we had an extended break), etc. To me it seemed Melbourne got alot of the ball while a player was standing still and then handpassed quickly.

My question is why wasn't the players direct opponent or for that matter any of our blokes in position to lay quick tackles. I know that players may have been set up for a attack etc but i mean it was all to easy, there was no pressure.

I am not trying to have a dig at the players effort, as at the start of the third I was amazed as in a string 5 Melbourne players were tackled while in possesion, but somehow managed to still get out a handball,(not always legally mind you) straight to another Melbourne player. The effort was there it just dropped off.

So to me a mixture of lack of defence in the midfield and an undermanned backline was the cause of our demise, as I believe a lack of midfield defence was a major factor in our poor start. Here's to hoping we can get this area right.