Dees a letdown, admitted Goodwin

MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin last night conceded his team was beaten in “all three phases” after Collingwood ended the Demons’ six-game winning streak with a 42-point Queen’s Birthday thumping.

The Demons leaked their biggest score under Goodwin in their first match without Jake Lever (ACL) as they were dislodged from the top four.

The Demons were smashed 45-26 in clearances and 63-42 in inside-50s as their midfield was mauled by the Jordan De Goey-led Magpies.

Goodwin conceded All-Australian prospect Brodie Grundy beat Max Gawn in the ruck and said five-goal hero Mason Cox was a “bit of a handful”.

It was the fifth-biggest home-and-away crowd the Demons have ever played in front of — 83.518 at the MCG.

With Lever watching on from the coach’s box, the Demons also lost Oscar McDonald to concussion.

But Goodwin refused to reflect on the club’s tragic recent history after the letdown.

“It was a disappointing day in terms of how we played,” Goodwin said.

“I thought Collingwood’s pressure around the ball was outstanding, I thought they clearly won the clearances and generated a lot of forward momentum from there, and won the territory battle.

“All phases of our game weren’t to the level that we’re used to playing. They tackled incredibly well. I thought we fumbled the ball due to their pressure. It’s something they were very good at. But we need to be able to absorb (pressure). We were clearly beaten around clearance, we were beaten around contest areas and it generated a lot of forward momentum.”

Winning the territory battle is critical to the Demons’ game plan and Goodwin said they lost that against the Magpies. But he gave a tick to Lever replacement Joel Smith.

“I thought he played well,” Goodwin said. “It was a different mix, he’s probably not as tall. We’ll continue to look at how that evolves. We may need two talls in time.”

The 8-4 Demons dropped out of the top four on percentage and take on Jack Watts’ Port Adelaide after next week’s bye.

“You can only perform with what’s in front of you,” Goodwin said.

“For six weeks in a row we performed really strongly as a footy club. Today we weren’t at our best. So we learn, we grow, we get better and we go again.

“We can’t look back, we can’t look forward — we’ve got to look at what’s in front of us right now. Today was disappointing.

“But I’m not going to go and look backwards, or project too much forward. It’s madness. As I’ve said earlier in the year, we don’t worry about the noise. We haven’t got the right to worry about the noise.

“I’ll let other people decide what the expectation should be. We know what we’re capable of, and we’ll continue to forge and try and grow and get better to become the best team we can possible become.”