Leigh Matthews believes Melbourne would have been wishing for a different result following Ed Langdon’s comments last week.
The Demons wingman suggested that Collingwood were “all duck, no dinner” in the way they play and “a bit of a one-trick pony”.
It ended badly for the reigning premiers who were beaten by seven points, with Langdon copping some rough treatment throughout.
The comments also seemingly gave the Pies fans something extra to be loud about.
VFL/AFL great Matthews suggests his words came back to haunt the Dees even if they were “insignificant”.
“I heard his comments, they’re fairly insignificant really,” he said on sports day.
“But if you say anything negative about the opposition, it usually will come back to haunt you.
“Even if it just fires them up a little bit, it gives the team a focus point.
“Collingwood had a focus point that we’ll get into Ed Langdon every time we get a chance to, and the Collingwood crowd was booing Ed Langdon every time he went near the ball.
“From a club point of view, you don’t want players saying anything that is going to embarrass us. You can be nice and build up the opposition as much as you want, but never say anything negative.
“Negative stuff, it comes back to haunt you. Don’t do it.
“Everyone loves it, the media does, the external people do, but everyone around Melbourne says, ‘I wish he kept his mouth shut’, because it did not help their cause one iota.
“So external and internal are very different.”
It would be fair to say that Langdon will be keeping quiet this week ahead of Saturday night’s crunch clash with Carlton at the MCG.
The Demons need a win to cement their spot in the top four while the Blues are fighting to keep their spot in the eight.
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