MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey refused to use his side’s lack of experience as an excuse for the Demons’ 46 point loss to Fremantle at Subiaco Oval.

Melbourne dominated the opening quarter, kicking five unanswered goals, before allowing Fremantle back into the game.

Held goalless and trailing by 29 points at quarter time, Fremantle kicked 16 goals to five and ended up cruising to victory.

Bailey said it was Fremantle’s pressure not Melbourne’s inexperience which had been sparked the turnaround.

“To Fremantle’s credit, their pressure in the second and third quarter was pretty good,” he said.

“They tackled well, they were first at the ball, their clearances were good and we turned it over from their pressure they applied and from some of the poor decisions we made when we had hold of the footy.

 “We couldn’t get the ball out of our back 50, we couldn’t get into our forward line, we turned it over and they scored on us.

“In the first quarter we were moving it pretty well. We expected our ball movement just to repeat the second quarter as in the first quarter and they didn’t allow us.”

Bailey said the Demons had not been prepared to take risks as their lead slipped away and had not run with as much authority as they had in the opening term.   

“In the first quarter our decision making was good, we had lots of options, guys were working hard for each other,” he said.

“Decision making is an important part of the game. We let ourselves down (in that area) in the second and third quarter and to Fremantle’s credit they really pressured us into mistakes.”

Bailey said Melbourne remained desperate to avoid finishing bottom of the AFL ladder, a position it currently holds, as the club celebrates its 150th year.

“I don’t want to finish last,” he said.

“We’re going to improve and we’re going to look at next week (against North Melbourne) to try to win the game.

“We’ll plan next week to win, as we planned to win this week. We’re in it to win it, we’re not in it to finish last.”