MELBOURNE Chairman Glen Bartlett has acknowledged this year’s disappointment, but says he has full confidence in the club’s ability to turn things around.

The club will undoubtedly review the season closely, and Bartlett says hard decisions will be made to ensure the red and blue bounce back in 2020.

“Every aspect of our footy program is being looked at and I’m very, very confident in our leaders,” he said on the club’s Inside Melbourne podcast.

“We will make decisions we need to make to address and turn things around.

“But certainly, as a leader, we’re not going to panic, we’re not just going to be reactive and emotional – that’s the easy thing to do.”

Although the club has faced some challenges throughout the year, Bartlett says his side has certainly under achieved, and let the fans down.

“As a supporter, it’s absolutely devastating, frustrating, heartbreaking, the way this year has gone,” he said.

“As a board, as leaders in the club, we’re absolutely staying strong. A range of things are being addressed as we speak.

“It’s important that it’s been a journey of five or six years that we’ll continue driving forward.

“Whatever I say will probably sound like an excuse, and as a leader, the best excuse is no excuse.

“We need to address the issues and move forward.”

While sitting 17^th on the ladder after Round 19 is far from where the Demons wish to be, the club’s chairman understands there will be plenty of obstacles on the way to success.

“In terms of linear improvement, we had five years of linear improvement – we expected at some point we’d be challenged, and we’re seriously being challenged now,” Bartlett said.

“It’s not just a speed bump, it’s a bigger ditch than we thought, but good clubs, which we are building, stick together.

“Our members’ support has been wonderful over the journey and has grown over the journey.

“We’re like family – it’s all great riding the ups, but it’s times like this our players and footy department need our members’ support more than ever.”

External media has questioned whether Melbourne’s 2018 finals run was a one-off, but Bartlett is confident that isn’t the case.

“I see this year as being the aberration,” he said.

“I know the work that’s going on behind the scenes, I know what’s being done and we set this up to really give ourselves a tilt at the finals for a sustained period of time.

“But I can’t hide the disappointment in this year.”

Bartlett, as a leader of the club, is committed to improving the side’s performance and will use the learnings from this year to make improvements over the off-season.

“We’re going to be working incredibly hard to address the issues that have been identified and keep working,” he said.

“Anything that needs to be addressed will be looked at and will be addressed.

“I haven’t lost any belief in our list, our players, our leaders across the club, and I’m buoyed by the straight talk conversations that are happening.

“There have been things that have been learnt this year and they will be addressed and are being addressed.”