MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey never lost faith that his Demons could come back and win at the MCG, even when they fell 51 points behind late in the second term.
“You always have a belief that you’re always in the game,” Bailey said after his side's outrageous six-point victory over Fremantle.
“As long as you do the basics well, the chasing the tackling and ensure that your skill level is at such a level that they can’t rebound on you [you’re in the game].”
Bailey said the Demons had simply lifted their intensity and pressure in the second half.
He also praised a number of “selfless acts” after half-time.
The Demons win from 50 points down at half time was the second biggest comeback after the long break in VFL/AFL history.
In round 10, 1970, Collingwood was 52 points down against St Kilda before rallying to win by seven points.
It was also the club's greatest-even comeback win in its 150-year history.
Melbourne eventually won 17.17 (119) to 15.23 (113) on the back of a nine-goal to two in the final quarter.
Remarkable scenes engulfed the MCG with a trumpeter playing the club's 'Grand Old Flag' team song in the final seconds before the siren while delirious fans cheered and some even cried.
Bailey took the time to acknowledge sections of the Melbourne faithful who have suffered so much this season and later said they had played an important part in the win.
But the rookie coach said yesterday's breakthrough win mainly came because of hard work on the training track.
However, Bailey wasn’t getting carried away.
Instead, the Melbourne coach maintained his sedate, composed manner throughout his post-match press conference and said his team would simply take confidence from the four points.
Bailey said to get so far down was “disappointing” but he never lost faith in his side.
And he said he had seen his team improving in recent weeks, even if it didn’t have much to show for it.
“The last two weeks we’ve trained well,” he said.
“We haven’t got the transfer from how we’ve trained to the game and we got it today in a half of footy.
“So that’s encouraging for the players … they’ve been very committed to training and they need a pat on the back, their attitude’s been first-class at training for the whole six weeks considering we haven’t won a game.”
After their dreadful start to 2008, few gave the Demons a chance heading into their clash with Freo.
Not only considered slim were their chances of beating the team that pushed Geelong all the way a week earlier, but also their chances of drawing a crowd big enough to raise a whimper.
While Bailey happily sang the praises of the 22 men who represented Melbourne on Sunday, he gave special mention to the 19,423 fans that showed up to support his side.
“It sounded like 70,000 in the last quarter,” he said.
“They were outstanding and we thank them for coming along and giving us the support and sticking it out for the game, and I know that they helped us get over the line – there’s no question about that.”
