So why did Melbourne play three highly competitive quarters, before falling away in the final term against Fremantle at Etihad Stadium on Saturday?
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Did fatigue set in? Was it inexperience? Did the lack of rotations prove costly, with the injured Mark Jamar and Jamie Bennell unavailable? Or did the favoured team rightly win the match it was supposed to?
The list of reasons and theories can go on and on.
There is no doubt that coach Mark Neeld was frustrated by the loss, even though he was measured when he fronted the media post-match.
Neeld pointed to Fremantle’s slick final quarter ball movement as one of the reasons for the win, which resulted in seven goals to zip, and a 34-point win. But it’s never just one thing.
Still, 7.3 to 0.4 is a disappointing result in anyone’s language.
The first year senior coach could be quite rightly pleased with his team’s effort for three quarters - particularly Melbourne’s opening term, which had been a problem in recent weeks.
Conversely, the Demons booted six goals and won the final quarter against Richmond last round, after a sluggish start.
Flipping the situation around surely added to Neeld and the coaching staff’s frustrations. And it certainly wasn’t lost on the players either.
Co-captain Jack Grimes, who continues to emerge as a fine young leader, was hurting after the match. He knew it was a missed opportunity against good opposition.
“It was frustrating,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“The last few weeks it’s been the first quarter, and this week it was the last quarter.
“To Fremantle’s credit, they took their chances in the last, and we let them.”
The notion that Melbourne ran out of energy was not a consideration for Grimes. He believed it was his side’s intent and will to win that came to a halt in the final term.
“The boys were tired, but the Fremantle boys were tired as well,” he said.
“In the end, they just wanted it more than us.
“You look through the first three quarters and it was a good effort up until then, but it’s not good enough to just put in a three quarter effort and then lay down in the last like that.”
There is no doubt that Melbourne’s lack of rotations in the final term hurt, given the injuries to Mark Jamar (calf) in the first quarter and Jamie Bennell (anterior cruicate ligament) in the third term. But Grimes did not want to use their absence as a factor in defeat.
“It does affect rotations a bit, but it’s still not an excuse,” he said.
“We still had two on the bench, and we were still able to rotate often.
“It was a pretty quick game at times. I don’t think we’ll put it down to that in the last quarter.”
When summing up the result, Grimes said it was akin to two matches in one, based on Melbourne’s performance.
“The first three quarters, we felt like we were structured really well and the energy was really good, and we were just having a crack. That’s exactly what we wanted,” he said.
“They’re the sorts of games we want to be in - real arm wrestles, where you have to fight it out and it is close.
“The last quarter, I don’t know - it’s hard to put it down to one thing.”
And he was right.
Even Grimes had the maturity to realise it’s never as simple as just one reason for a loss, but several key points.
And eliminating or curtailing those indictors will be Melbourne’s challenge, as it aims for victory number three this year against Port Adelaide in Darwin this Saturday night.
