Fremantle’s first half performance let the team down as Melbourne got away to a 42-point half-time lead, according to defender Cam Sutcliffe.
Sutcliffe said the team needed to compete from the first bounce, and warmer conditions made chasing the game difficult, after the Demon’s led by 29 points at quarter-time.
“I think they kicked two quick early goals, and we were on the back-foot from there, so I think playing catch-up… is pretty tough and it didn’t really work for us tonight,” Sutcliffe said.
Melbourne’s forwards put Fremantle’s defence under pressure early, as Jack Watts and Jesse Hogan created space for small forward Dean Kent, who finished with three goals.
Sutcliffe, who gathered 22 possessions across halfback, said they would review their defensive structure after the Demons managed 17 marks inside 50 from 67 entries.
“They have a lot of quick small forwards and tall forwards as well like Jesse Hogan,” he said.
“We didn’t quite nullify their influence tonight, but we’ll review it and go from there.”
Talking points from Melbourne loss
Fremantle came back into the game in the second half, kicking the final three majors of the third term to cut the deficit to 31 points after Melbourne led by 42 points at half-time
Ahead of next Friday night’s clash against Geelong, Sutcliffe said the team was focussed on improving.
“We’ll look forward to it, take it head on, review this game and see what we did wrong and, hopefully, bring our learnings from that into the game against Geelong,” he said.
