The award for understatement this week goes to Melbourne Demons coach Paul Roos, who if there were any justice in the world, would be coaching at North Melbourne…well, not justice perhaps, but a keen sense of irony.
Roos expressed the idea that the loser mentality that pervaded the Demons for so many years has been a major reason for the Demons rise from bottom rung-ers to a winning record after seven rounds of the 2016 season.
When Roos assumed the helm after the 2013 season that saw Melbourne escape the spoon only through the ineptitude of the Giants, the team had been suffering for years. Any time the Demons won a game over the past 10 years, it was usually followed by reports of major crises for the unfortunate team that lost to the Demons.
Roos attributes the turnaround to changes in personnel, not only on the field but in the wings as well, with lifting, according to him, the “veil of negativity,” and the “negative environment,” that had sentenced the Demons to footy hell, to where they now occupy rung number nine, just beyond the finals, trailing the Crows and the Eagles by scant percentage points.
