A FEW WEEKS ago, coach Mark Neeld suggested Melbourne was at a similar stage to two recent teams: Hawthorn (2005) and Richmond (2010).

By that, he meant the Demons were in the same type of position as when new coaches Alastair Clarkson and Damien Hardwick assumed their positions for Hawthorn and Richmond respectively.

The two coaches both went through pain, before developing and rebuilding their sides.

Although Melbourne is going through its own pain, it’s clear to the first-year senior coach that Richmond of 2010 - when it lost its first nine matches in a row - is a model that is starting to reap the benefits of what it sowed two years ago.

This was reinforced to Neeld when he watched Richmond defeat - coincidentally - Hawthorn on Saturday, which won the 2008 premiership four years after Clarkson’s first season.

For Neeld, who played 26 of his 74 AFL matches for Richmond, watching the Tigers record a 62-point win over Hawthorn was another pointer for Neeld to keep the faith.

“Richmond is a perfect example. I went to that game and watched Richmond take on Hawthorn - it was a great game of footy and the Tigers were playing really well,” he said.

“It’s certainly not lost on me that two years ago they were in exactly the same position as what we are now. They stayed the course as a whole club and its supporter base, and they kept working hard and stuck to the structures that ‘Dimma’ (Hardwick) wanted and the rest of the club wanted.

“There are examples of that right through, and you don’t have to go back very far.

“But we’re concerned about what we’re doing, and if you want to take similarities out, there will be no deviation from the way that our club wants to move forward and all of the planning we’re putting into place.”

When assessing Melbourne’s match against Carlton at the MCG on Sunday, quite simply, it was another frustrating performance.

The Demons led by the narrowest of margins at quarter time, trailed by 13 points at half time, and were 16 points down entering the final stanza.

It was just the third time this season that Melbourne remained in the contest heading into the last quarter. The other two times came in rounds four and five against Western Bulldogs and St Kilda respectively, when the Dees were down by 15 points and three entering the final terms.

On Sunday, the Demons remained in the hunt at three quarter time, but fell away badly in the last quarter.

Seven goals to zip in the final term was a disappointing end to an otherwise competitive and encouraging performance against a team touted in the first part of this season as the flag favourite.

This round, the Demons take on Essendon - now a genuine challenger this season, after dropping just one match this season to Collingwood.  The Magpies are then Melbourne’s opponent before the mid-season break.

It means two more significant challenges for the Demons, but these are tests that need confronting and to be taken head on.

The patience game will continue, and Neeld is acutely aware of this. He has again implored all and sundry to understand, even if the short term pain continues.

“Major shifts in footy clubs take time,” he said.

“We live in a society, which is all about ‘I’ve got to have it now, give it to me now’.

“The idea that people can actually sit down and come up with a plan and make sure that building solid foundations - for whatever reason - appears to be lost on the community.”

But not on Neeld, who is remaining steadfast on building the team from the ground up.

And if the examples of Hawthorn and Richmond are any guide, then they are role models worth looking at.