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From THE AGE this morning. OK put up your dukes! "It's hard to think of a starker contrast between a few games which weren't supposed to mean anything than we witnessed over the weekend. At the MCG on Saturday, Essendon made a mockery of naive suggestions they would be better served losing to Carlton and ensuring the No.1 draft pick with their most spirited performance of the season. The post-game scenes were no less significant, the Bombers not only giving fitting farewells to the top-up players who'd helped out this season, but gathering in front of their fans at the Punt Road end to thank them for sticking by the club these past four nightmarish years. But while Essendon were giving it everything, down the highway at Geelong, Melbourne, now without a top eight spot to play for, were effectively waving the white flag, sending off Paul Roos with the heaviest defeat of his 268-game coaching career. ---// snip/: Two weekends ago, Melbourne were playing for a potential finals spot, Demon fans with more hope in the hearts than they'd had for a decade. Instead, they'll go into a six-month hibernation once again wondering just how much has changed. Richmond supporters were already at a low ebb. The complete lack of competitiveness of their team in their final chance to show something was without doubt the final rubbing of their collective noses in the you-know-what. That's not to suggest either the Melbourne or Richmond players weren't hurting after their humiliations. There's every chance they'll recover a fair bit quicker, though. An eight-week holiday looms. Overseas trips. And when they return to their club, the slate will have been wiped clean, the embarrassment forgotten as they throw themselves into the business of preparing for 2017.