IT’S really only when a season has been done and dusted that the entire picture becomes clear.

Sure, a great part of it can be exposed along the way, but it’s not until it’s consigned to the history books that a season can truly be reflected upon in its entirety.

After last round’s loss to St Kilda, anyone with an ounce of passion for the red and blue was frustrated yet again and wondered just what the hell was going on?

Sure, the Demons had reached five wins for the season – an important tick and something that hadn’t been achieved since 2011 – but when Melbourne went down to St Kilda by 37 points at the MCG, it was a most disappointing result. 

For two sides at a similar stage of their development, the margin should’ve been closer – regardless of the winner. Full credit to an oft-underrated St Kilda, but Melbourne missed a golden opportunity on two occasions against the Saints in 2015. In hindsight, the one that truly got away was its round 11 loss to St Kilda, when Melbourne fluffed its opportunity at Etihad Stadium by two points.

Still, there have been strong gains this season.

Wins against Richmond, the Western Bulldogs and Geelong at the Cattery are now impressive victories in the bigger picture.

And breaking hoodoos against Geelong and the Brisbane Lions this year – the Demons beat the Cats for the first time since 2006 and the Lions since 2011 – are also important boxes that have been ticked along the way.

With six wins so far this year and five rounds to play, Melbourne can still make further inroads in 2015.

If it wins eight matches, it will be the club’s equal best result since 2010-11. And if it achieves nine victories, Melbourne will have produced its best season since 2006 – its most recent finals appearance.

The fact that we’re now talking about this scenario in the ‘bigger picture’ is vindication that the club has improved this year – something coach coach Paul Roos is emphatic about – even if the week to week scenario throws up some curve balls.

“Internally we know that [we have improved], but you need to give the fans faith, and we are so much a better team than two years ago – there’s no question about that,” he said.

“The Melbourne fans, as we all know, are frustrated [but] we – internally at the football department and the footy club – understand we're dramatically better, but you need the win to show people that’s the case.

“To go from two wins [in 2013] to four wins [in 2014] to six wins [so far this year] – clearly there’s a difference in the way we perform. We’d love to have more wins on the board and we’d love to have been more consistent, but we’re pretty clear on where we want to get to."

Skipper Nathan Jones said the character of the group came to the fore against Collingwood, particularly on the back of a disappointing loss to St Kilda. But he was adamant his team had improved overall in 2015.  

“I feel like we really galvanise together, particularly after those embarrassing performances. I feel like that’s a step forward from where we’ve come from – if you want to relate it to the past. We’re just focused on the now and the current crop of players that are here,” he said.

“It’s testament to the boys – we really want to fight back when we put out a performance [like last week], which was a terrific example. For us to take the next step as a team and as a footy club, we need to make the performance [against Collingwood] as a minimum standard. That’s our challenge and that’s what we’ll work towards every week.

“We’ve just got to continue to drive that and really respect the behaviours and habits that we’re trying to build and make them ingrained. When they are ingrained, the team will become really consistent and I expect us to make some significant gains pretty fast.”

And if the Demons play like it did against the Magpies, then watch this space.