WAS it a step forward or a step back?

It was a question posed to coach Paul Roos in his post-match media conference following Melbourne’s 33-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Queen’s Birthday.

“[It was] probably [an] even [performance after] playing two good sides in two weeks,” he said.

“A few of our younger guys are starting to wear out a little bit, so you address those things at selection.

“We still worked hard, [but] we slaughtered the footy and gave it back to them. But I thought the work rate was there and the effort was there and to keep them (Collingwood) to a manageable score [was good]. But when we went forward, too often, we just gave it back to them.”

It was a fair assessment.

The Demons have made massive inroads this season – they won just two matches in 2013 and entered this year coming off their fifth worst season since becoming a foundation team of the VFL/AFL in 1897.

The red and blue has been competitive – and in the contest – in all but one match this season (round two against the West Coast Eagles), something that hasn’t been the case in recent years. 

Given Melbourne had produced a strong performance against top of the ladder Port Adelaide the previous round in Alice Springs – it went down by 20 points after leading mid-way during the final term – the Demons again faced another top four team in consecutive weeks.

On the big stage, the Demons encountered the Magpies, which had won seven of their past eight matches.

It set the scene for a fascinating clash – and the almost 70,000 crowd supported that notion.

But, in the wash-up, the Dees fell short against a quality opposition that has played finals for the past eight years and won a flag in that time.

Naturally, the Demons were bitterly disappointed with the result. It was another missed opportunity. Yet even the super competitive Roos was realistic about the situation – and where his team was at, now that it’s played half of its matches for the 2014 season.

“I did notice the young players and even some of our mid-range players who still haven’t played a lot of footy [were tired today],” he said.

“I think that’s reasonable and it’s more mentally tired – just dropping off in little areas. That’s probably the thing.”

Still, even though the Demons have produced better performances recently, they are now in the midst of a tougher period, fixture wise, and the ebbs and flows of the AFL season means that it’s never going to keep climbing every match.

But the fact that Melbourne was deemed a chance to win its first Queen’s Birthday encounter since Russell Robertson booted seven goals in 2007 to help it over the line – shows how far the Demons have come in recent times.

Three goals were not what Roos wanted, but the fact that Collingwood only scored eight was important. Again, it showed how far Melbourne had come.

“I remember a Grand Final and it was eight goals to seven and [former AFL chief executive] Andrew Demetriou rated it the best game he’s ever seen. I have a different opinion to football compared to a lot of other people,” Roos said referencing his 2005 premiership win for the Swans, when asked why so few goals were kicked.

“Some games are going to be high scoring and some games are going to be low scoring. We don’t go out to kick three goals. [Collingwood coach] Bucks’ (Nathan Buckley) team doesn’t go out to kick eight goals.

“You try and play football to what you think will eventually win premierships – and I think that’s what Nathan is trying to do with Collingwood. They were able to keep us to three goals and we’re a long way behind that, but we’re trying to do the same things.

“I think it’s the errors that create the frustration for fans and coaches alike. I think that’s a common theme. When you’ve got a game where you make so many errors, which we did, it’s really difficult to score – when you kick it back to the opposition.”

Although it mightn’t have been a match for the archives – and for the red and blue faithful it was not the result that it was after – it was yet another important step in Melbourne’s reemergence.

As Roos said, it wasn’t a step forward or backwards – it was simply part of the journey, which is well on the way to where the red and blue wants to go – and where it’s heading.

It was merely a resting point in its drive forward. And every journey has that.