There was a time during the current Melbourne cycle that goes back to before the premiership when the club was the toughest to beat in the fourth quarter. The Demons were not only hard to beat at any time but it was virtually impossible to get the better them when scores were close at three quarter time. It was only three or four years ago but they were fit, strong and resilient in body and mind. Sadly, those days are over.

This has been the case since the club fell off its pedestal about 12 months ago after it beat Geelong and then lost to Carlton. In both instances, Melbourne put together strong, stirring final quarters, one that resulted in victory, the other, in defeat. Since then, the drop off has been dramatic to the point where it can neither pull off victory in close matches, nor can it even go down in defeat  gallantly.

In 2025, it has outscored the opposition in one final term (by three points against winless West Coast). One can only describe that as “catastrophic.” The statistics are there for all to see— Saturday’s capitulation to Hawthorn was typical of the season to date.

When this game was there to be won at three quarter time, the Hawks dominated with precision football that cut the Demons defence to shreds outscoring them by 41 points to 7 to turn what had hitherto been a close contest into a rout. 

The team’s much vaunted defensive powerhouse status has been affected by the fact that it has not once this year seen the May/Lever combination in action - the sooner we see the return of the latter, the better because the Demons need the direction and steadiness of the combination to steady the ship before it sinks altogether.

One can’t, of course, blame only the defence for leaking that much in the final term of an otherwise closely fought contest. The fact is that after a tightly fought opening term, Melbourne failed to take advantage of its territorial advantage in the second and third quarters by squandering opportunity after opportunity. The Demons’ attack remains largely impotent and the magic of the once deadly midfield was blunted this week without Jack Viney and with Clayton Oliver well below his brilliant best of days gone by.

The other factor that needs to be addressed is the squad’s fitness, whether that be linked to its physical or mental condition, or both. It surely isn’t totally coincidental that the team’s VFL counterpart lost its game by 18 points earlier in the day after holding a 26 point lead well into time on in the third quarter. Whatever the cause, there’s no easy or quick fix on the horizon.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom for a team that led a major premiership contender just four minutes before the last break and, but for an inaccurate second quarter, coulda, woulda, shoulda been far further ahead at the time. Unfortunately, poor execution in front of goal (not to mention the umpires tripping themselves up over a tripping offence to Kozzie Pickett) robbed them of the chance to really challenge the Hawks at the end with some scoreboard pressure.

Max Gawn was great as usual, although not as prolific as in previous games, Kozzie and Tracc were strong in the contests as usual, but the real bright spots were the form of top draft picks Harvey Langford and Caleb Windsor, who demonstrated the shape of things to come. They might be young, but they are  the sounder of mind and body than most of their more experienced teammates. Their endeavour and application put several of them to shame.

MELBOURNE 2.3.15 4.10.34 6.13.49 7.14.56

HAWTHORN 3.3.21 5.5.35 7.8.50 13.13.91 

GOALS

MELBOURNE Langford 3 Pickett 2 Sharp Sparrow

HAWTHORN  Gunston 3 Chol Watson 2 Breust Ginnivan Meek  Moore Ward Weddle 

BEST

MELBOURNE  Langford Bowey Gawn Pickett Petracca McDonald

HAWTHORN Worpel Jiath Gunston Sicily Ward Weddle D’Ambrosio

INJURIES

MELBOURNE Nil

HAWTHORN Nil

REPORTS 

MELBOURNE Nil

HAWTHORN Nil

SUBSTITUTIONS 

MELBOURNE Koltyn Tholstrup replaced Matt Jefferson in the third quarter

HAWTHORN Bailey Macdonald replaced Henry Hustwaite at half-time

UMPIRES Matt Stevic Cameron Dore Jordan Fry James Strybos

CROWD 50,351 at The MCG

I do hope these umpires enjoy the weather in Ballarat this weekend