MELBOURNE hopes key defender James Frawley will be fit for the club's daunting trip to Geelong next weekend despite suffering hamstring tightness during the loss to the Sydney Swans at the MCG on Sunday.
Frawley was subbed out of the game in the third quarter. After heading to the rooms for attention, he reappeared with heavy strapping on his left hamstring.
"There's some tightness there," interim Demons coach Neil Craig explained after the match.
"Hopefully he'll be OK for the weekend against Geelong."
The loss of Frawley was a big blow for Melbourne. Not only had he collected 14 possessions to that point, he had done a solid job on star Swans recruit Kurt Tippett.
But Craig said the Demons did not want to risk him suffering long-term damage.
"And Jade Rawlings (defensive coach) had great confidence in Colin (Garland) and Lynden Dunn and Tommy McDonald to handle that big fella, No.8 (Tippett), down there, who is a man mountain with a fierce attitude," he added.
"So I thought the guys hung on pretty well in that area."
The upside for Melbourne was the performance of key forward Jack Fitzpatrick, who booted three goals, gathered 17 possessions and took eight marks.
"He's come from really good, solid form, consistent form, at (VFL affiliate) Casey Scorpions," Craig said.
"Through his performance, Jack's earned the right to play in this side, and he's continuing to earn the right to play in this side.
"He's got some fantastic attributes. His speed for a guy his size is exceptional.
"The thing I really enjoyed today was some of his aerial contested work. He needs to continue to work on his ruckwork, but he's got a great attitude to his footy.
"Cult hero? He's a fair way away from that I think. But that's something for our supporters to look forward to, provided Jack continues to improve."
Although encouraged by his team's effort, Craig admitted the final margin of 31 points flattered Melbourne.
"In a lot of ways you could say we were dominated," he said. "In the end we only had 30-odd inside-50s, lost the stoppages by 20 and had minus 44 contested ball.
"Let's keep this in perspective guys. It's a long way away from being in a successful footy club.
"But I do admire … the resilience of this playing group.
"To use a racing term, we played a Group 1 horse today … not John Longmire the 'Horse', but I'm talking about his side.
"They are a fair dinkum footy club, a fair dinkum footy side, and they've been over the journey.
"So that's how we need to be judged over time, and you've got to start somewhere, so the guys have taken some small steps in that area, and now we've got to keep driving really hard and then we'll get judged on our merits."
"In the debrief, I was encouraged by their mentality to keep coming and to stay at the task.
"What we've got to channel that into is a bit more know-how."
