It’s a vastly improved picture since Melbourne’s round eight shocker against Sydney Swans, when it lost by 101 points at the SCG.
Still, just one win has occurred during that period and Melbourne has lost two of its past three matches to Carlton (58 points) and Collingwood (42 points). Sandwiched in the middle was Melbourne’s only victory this season - a six-point thriller over Essendon.
But it makes interesting reading when breaking it down further: Melbourne has won four of its past 12 quarters, drawn one, lost two by fewer than three points and been down by 14 to 16 points in another three terms.
Yet, there were two shockers in there.
Melbourne lost its final quarter to Carlton by 42 points and, on Monday, it trailed Collingwood by 35 points at quarter time.
Aside from these two terms, when the Demons were blown out of the water, they have shown genuine competitiveness, pleasing coach Mark Neeld.
But Neeld is also fully aware that one poor quarter can undo the rest of the hard work, as he explained.
“Over the last three weeks, we’ve played Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood - three sides that are travelling pretty well,” he said.
“Of the 12 quarters, we’ve had 10 competitive quarters, so we’re seeing some glimpses - both individually and as a team.
“There were some good performances, but no doubt for us, our challenge over the second half of the year is to make those glimpses and competitive quarters four in a game - more often than not.”
And this is not lost on the players either.
Defender Jared Rivers, who played up forward in the second half against Collingwood, said it was frustrating to produce three competitive quarters and one poor term against the Pies.
“It was disappointing again in regards to the first quarter, which really spooked us. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play and they kicked away in the first quarter, which really hurt us in the end,” he said.
“After the first quarter, we kicked the same amount of goals and it showed that, against good teams, you can’t play three quarters of footy.
“Some crucial turnovers cost us as well, so it was pretty disappointing, considering it was a big day for the club and what Queen’s Birthday stands for.”
But Rivers said it showed what Melbourne needed to do to perform against the competition’s top sides.
“It shows you that when you play against these top eight teams and these teams are going to finish in the top four that you can’t compete when you only play three quarters of footy,” he said.
“We’re still learning that and we’re trying to improve that, but when you get blown out of the water in the first quarter, you’re always playing catch up footy.
“It’s definitely hard to play that type of footy, when you’re down by so much early in the game. After our game against Essendon, to fall back in the first quarter against Collingwood was disappointing.”
Midfielder Jordie McKenzie said stringing together four consistent quarters was Melbourne’s greatest focus in the second half of the season.
“Last week was one of the only weeks where we’ve played four quarters - and that one quarter let us down. That’s been a similar theme throughout the first half of the year,” he said.
“It’s been far too up and down for our liking and it’s something that we’re addressing - to play consistent footy week in week out for four quarters.
“We know we’ve got a long way to go, and that’s the real focus in the second half of the year - to be hard to play against for the whole game, not just spits and spurts.”
