MELBOURNE
Highlight: Completely dominating reigning premier Adelaide in round two, winning by 32 points to stake an early claim for premiership favouritism. The match also featured the goal of the year from speedster Aleisha Newman.
Lowlight: Yet another third-place finish to miss the Grand Final by percentage. It's the second year in a row the Demons fell agonisingly short, a two-point loss to the Bulldogs in the dying minutes of the last match of the season ending their hopes.
Best and fairest: Daisy Pearce
Most improved: Shelley Scott
Post-season news: Captain Daisy Pearce will sit out this coming VFLW season to give her body a rest. Melbourne has signed nearly half its AFLW players to its VFLW side Casey, including Tegan Cunningham, Meg Downie, Bianca Jakobsson, Kate Hore, Laura Duryea, Katherine Smith, Shelley Scott, Jasmine Grierson, Claudia Whitford, Harriet Cordner, Maddie Shevlin, Eden Zanker and Cat Phillips.
Must hang on to: Elise O'Dea. The midfielder is the youngest of the Daisy Pearce-Karen Paxman-O'Dea trio, and leads the club in metres gained. Was second in the club's best and fairest award and often slips under the radar of opposition clubs trying to cover her teammates.
What they need: Melbourne has one of the most balanced lists in the competition, as evidenced by two third-place finishes. An additional small forward for depth wouldn't hurt.
Dream recruit: Brooke Lochland. The competition's leading goal kicker was also one of the most improved players, but it would be hard to tempt her away from a premiership-winning side.
