Fugazi? Plough reveals stats behind Dees’ poor record against top sides

Terry Wallace has denied Simon Goodwin’s claim that the criticism of Melbourne’s performances against top sides is fake news.

The Demons are 0-7 against top-nine teams this season, but Wallace has explained why the issues facing Melbourne goes beyond the win-loss record.

“Against top nine sides, the Melbourne Football Club is 0-7, they’ve got a percentage of 74.8 against top sides,” Wallace told The Match Committee.

“Against the bottom nine teams, they are 12-1 and their percentage is 174.8.

“They are 100 per cent better against the bottom nine sides than what they are against the top nine sides.

“I can’t figure out how that works out as fake news.

“Let’s call it straight, you haven’t been able to get the job done against the sides that you needed to get the job done and that’s the facts.

“Until we see them do so, they’ve got West Coast and GWS over the next couple weeks, those are the facts.”

Demons coach Goodwin dismissed the criticism of his side against top-eight teams today.

"Narratives in footy change all the time,” Goodwin said.

“It's something that's in our game, it's prevalent. That's just complete Fugazi for me.

"Seventeen out of 20 games, we've been within a kick. That's a strong position for this club to be in.

"What we now need to do is start to maximise some of those moments and that comes with maturing as a team, that comes with putting ourselves in that opportunity all the time and that's something we'll embrace and look forward to."

Melbourne will face one of those top sides on Sunday when they take on West Coast in Perth.