'Insipid and pathetic': AFL great blasts his former club's horror show
Melbourne Demons great Garry Lyon has unleashed on his former club after a lacklustre performance against Port Adelaide on Thursday night.
Melbourne have six days to save their AFL season after an "unacceptable" display in a 51-point hammering from Port Adelaide.
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Coach Simon Goodwin conceded he was left more disappointed than ever by the insipid performance at the Gabba on Thursday night.
The Dees were beaten in all key areas of the game and saw star midfielder Clayton Oliver reported for striking when he caught Power ruckman Peter Ladhams high with a glancing blow.
Melbourne have two games in a tough make-or-break period in Adelaide next week, taking on the winless Crows and North Melbourne.
But after feeling teh wrath of their coach, Demons great Lyon took aim
“There is one team that is contending and on the back of that, there is one that is thoroughly pretending. Port Adelaide were clinical, Melbourne were pathetic,” Lyon said on Fox Footy.
“It could’ve been a whole lot more. Port Adelaide, let’s give them the credit. Their pressure early in the piece, they asked the question of a side who are flaky, that’s the bottom line.”
When quizzed by co-host Jonathan Brown over the performance, Lyon claimed the team failed in basic skills.
“It was an insipid performance. The inability to execute fundamental skill levels was shambolic,” he added.
Goodwin blasts Demons’ performance
Demons fans had built up hope over the previous three weeks with wins over Gold Coast and Hawthorn, followed by a narrow defeat to high-flying Brisbane.
But it was dashed amid a raft of skill errors against Port Adelaide in what has become an all too familiar sight in the two years since the club's 2018 preliminary final appearance.
"I'm so disappointed for our supporters," Goodwin said.
"They were starting to see a side that was building a way of playing that was highly competitive against really good sides and tonight was just nowhere near the level."
Melbourne were smashed by Port Adelaide in inside 50s (47-31) and failed to match the ladder leaders' intensity, kicking only four goals in their lowest score of the season - 4.8 (32) to 12.11 (83).
"That's as poor a performance we've put on this year," Goodwin said.
"For the majority of the year we've improved our method, improved our stability and improved a lot of things, but tonight was unacceptable.”
With AAP
