We were still in short pants the last time the Melbourne Demons won a premiership in 1964.
The current season of the Toyota AFL Premiership competition does not appear to be the year for that drought to end.
The Dees beat a favoured Hawthorn side in Round 8 of the 2019 season with a gritty performance for a 79 – 74 win where the Hawks came out of the barrier to establish a 14-point advantage at the end of the first quarter. Melbourne used stingy defense to get back in the game, closing the gap to nine points going into the main break.
A third quarter explosion for 35 points put the Dees well ahead and they took a 14-point lead into the fourth and managed to hold on until the final siren.
There has been too little of that this season and the Dees are languishing at the bottom of the ladder, ahead of only Carlton and Sydney. They are in the unfortunate position of having surrender more points than they have scored. Only St. Kilda of the top eight has a similar situation, but the Saints differential is close to even.
Over the first seven games of the season, Melbourne’s draw seems to be a Demons supporters’ nightmare.
They opened the season with three consecutive losses to clubs that are legitimate finals contenders.
The future does not look promising, either.
They should have a good opportunity for a win in Round 8 when they play Gold Coast, but they have four difficult games ahead of their Round 13 bye, when it will be West Coast, GWS, Adelaide and Collingwood.
The second half of the season does not look to offer much in the way of light at the end of the tunnel, an end to the tunnel, or even the existence of a tunnel.
