Melbourne's crisis stems far greater than the position on the ladder according to the man who many recognize as the Demons' saviour. The legendary coach of the Swans took Melbourne from the bottom of the ladder to a competitive mid-table side with a list full of young talent and high potential, which appears to be going down the drain.
After beating Hawthorn and Sydney before sneaking a lucky one-point win against the Gold Coast, Melbourne were 3-5 sitting equal 13th on the ladder. They have since only won two of their last 11 games including a win over Carlton which many saw as a great escape following a final quarter fade out where the Blues scored at will.
So what's gone wrong?
Paul Roos slammed the "deplorable" Demons who last year were one game off a trip to their first grand final in 18 years, and now sit two games off the bottom of the ladder.
Speaking to Fox Footy's On The Couch he spoke of the Demons' defensive woes as well as their crippling brand of footy, or lack of.
โThereโs no recognisable brand. Thatโs the disappointing thing from my point of view,โ Roos passionately told the panel.
โWe talked about Richmond before, if they turn the ball over, theyโre safe behind the ball. If Melbourne turn the ball over, they just get scored against โ and weโve seen that for the last two years. That fixed it up at the end of last year, thatโs what I want to see.
โPlayers donโt mean to kick it out of bounds on the full, players donโt mean to miss a target โ itโs frustrating. But get your defence set up, be hard to score against and we know thatโs the panacea for success.โ
Melbourne has a lowly percentage of just 80.7% and with Richmond and Collingwood coming up you would expect that to continue to decline. Melbourne will get their opportunity against Sydney again before coming up against the rising Kangaroos in the final round.
Two wins out of the final four games may just save the Demons from finishing second last, but with the Blues, Swans and Roos all in form and looking dangerous you wouldn't put your money on that happening.
Their list has either underperformed or been overestimated and Paul Roos believes its the former of the two options.
โTheyโve won five games โ itโs been a deplorable season, you canโt sugar-coat it,โ he said.
โGiven the injuries, if they had have won eight to 12 (games), you could justify it. But five wins with the talent they have is just unacceptable.โ
Whatever the reason, it's been another hard season for Demons fans who have stayed with their side through the worst generation in the club's history.
Just when it looked like the light was finally here, they are back where they started and pressure will continue to mount on the players and Simon Goodwin.
