MELBOURNE dynamo Aaron Davey says he "owed" his teammates a better performance this round, after the pacy Demon conceded his form had been down in the early stages of the year.
Davey was arguably Melbourne's best performer in the 48-point loss to North Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, and said post-match he’d wanted to bounce back.
"I had to give a little bit [against North Melbourne] because the rest of the boys have been carrying me for the last three weeks," Davey told melbournefc.com.au.
"My form has been down and there were some good signs last week, so I just wanted to improve on it. It was a reasonable performance, but I would have been happy with a win.”
Davey picked up an ankle injury against the Western Bulldogs in round two, but wasn’t offering that as an excuse for his form slump, saying the ankle was only "badly bruised".
"I came with the right mentality today and I just wanted to play and I felt as though I owed the boys a bit more," he said.
Davey started up forward before pushing in the midfield against the Kangaroos, and said another loss was difficult to take.
"It was a tough day and a pretty scrappy old game for both of us, but we've got to keep pecking away and chipping away and eventually, hopefully, we'll get a win," he said.
"It's been mentally draining, but in saying that, there were some good signs last week, so now we want to start focusing on Carlton and get that first win."
At 24, Davey is no longer in the youngest generation of Demons, and he’s able to offer support to new bloods like Austin Wonaeamirri, who impressed again on Saturday after debuting against Geelong last round.
"He's been good,” Davey said. “He's been doing everything right and he had a great debut last week and he's fitted in perfectly.
“He's just got to keep chipping away and keep helping to apply the pressure in the forward line - that's his job and he's excellent at it.
"He kicked two goals today, so hopefully he'll keep it going.
"We're both from Darwin, so he comes around a couple of nights a week and has a sleepover. It's good to have him around like a little brother. He's a good little kid."
