MELBOURNE is putting in extra work on its goalkicking accuracy as the Demons look to turn around their dip in scoring.
The Demons rank last in the AFL since round 12 for goalkicking accuracy with a rate of 37.5 per cent which has contributed to their dive in scores across their past six games.
The premiership contenders have gone from the fourth ranked side in the AFL for scores between rounds one and 12 to 14th between rounds 13 and 19, which has seen them record two wins.
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Coach Simon Goodwin, who said the club is preparing to take on Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday afternoon despite the trip not yet being locked in by the AFL, said his team was doing extra work in front of goal.
"We're working incredibly hard and we have all year. We have for a number of years. Our forwards do a power of work in that space," he said on Wednesday morning.
"Some of the quality of our shots isn't where it needs to be at the moment in terms of where we're taking them on the ground so we're working on our method to get better shots but we do need to improve our accuracy, there's no doubt about that.
"We're generating the amount of shots in games of footy that we want to kick a score but we need to do it better. We’re working incredibly hard. Our players are out there now on the track doing extra work right now. It's something we're not ignoring and something we need to get better at."
The Demons' past six weeks have seen questions raised on their ability to score against the AFL's elite as they head into their first finals series since 2018. But Goodwin said his side hadn't been worked out by rivals.
"That's very simplistic. I think every team would love to go through the year winning every game of footy. That's not going to happen, that's not AFL footy. It's very tough," he said.
"We need to keep adapting our game and keep finding a way to keep getting better and finding our best footy at the right time. That's why I'm pretty happy with the way our method looks, but we need to do it a little bit better. We need to maximise the areas we're good at and capitalise on those.
"In the next four weeks we need to keep building our game to make sure we're in a really good position."
The Demons will stick with their forward line group, with Sam Weideman set to play at VFL level, but Goodwin said Aaron vandenBerg, Jake Melksham and Jake Bowey were all pressing for selection.
Former skipper Nathan Jones will play in the VFL this week after playing a half of a scratch match last week after returning from a calf injury.