Twelve months after receiving nearly $3 million in an AFL Commission bailout, and then securing the services of Paul Roos as coach, Melbourne Football Club has sought another shortcut in its long route out of embarrassment and oblivion.
This time it wants a special priority draft selection. Another one.
For Melbourne in this horrific post-2006 period it is second nature to plan for, or ask for handouts, even when the supposed saviours in Roos and CEO Peter Jackson are in charge.
It is the easy way out, again.
That the request for assistance came just one day after a loss to an undermanned GWS at the MCG that rivalled the 186-point loss to Geelong in 2011 in its embarrassment, suggests to the football industry that this latest attempted rebuild is faring as well as the past two.
For Melbourne, it is obviously easier to ask for handouts than to fight and scrap and be prepared to sacrifice every ounce of effort in the pursuit of a better status.
That may not be the club's mindset, but that is the message it is sending.
The better message would have been a statement revealing that the club would not be requesting the AFL commission to use its discretion to grant a priority draft selection.
When Roos joined Jackson last year, the welfare state of the Demons was meant to be in the past, and for a mid-season period of 2014 the landscape looked OK.
In round 13, Melbourne defeated Essendon, its fourth win of the year, following victories against Carlton, Adelaide and Richmond. But since, it has reverted to recent past and at best, will finish second last on the ladder.
Roos and Jackson had no connection with the abysmal past, yet both have questionably drawn links with it in the past fortnight. Both men referred publicly to the carrying of mental scarring by the players after a loss to the Brisbane Lions in round 19.
Some observers felt mental scarring from the past had nothing to do with the players' embarrassing inability to dispose properly of the football on that day, or on other equally lamentable match days this year.
The Demons will remind the AFL Commission they have not finished higher than 12th since 2006, and that there have been 38 wins and 134 losses since the start of 2007.
They will point out to the AFL its own criteria in determining whether a priority pick should be granted, and hope that the "economics professor" supposedly used as a consultant will pay lots of attention to the regular disastrous outcomes.
But here is what the Commission should do when it next meets. Set aside 30 seconds for analysis of Melbourne's request. And then rule it out.
Simply, Melbourne does not deserve a priority draft selection, even after the disaster of last Sunday against the Giants.
Since 2006, it has had 17 national draft selections inside pick 26, 13 of those in the top 14. It has had two priority selections, two No.1 overall picks, seven picks in the top four.
It will get more significant compensation this year if free agent James Frawley departs.
The AFL has assisted this club enough. Last year, eight months after fining it $500,000 despite officially ruling that the Demons didn't tank in 2009, it provided $2.7 million in bailout funds.
It has allowed for Roos to be paid about $1.6 million a year, a figure that for some clubs would cover a senior coach, six assistants and a fitness boss.
Until Melbourne changes its attitude and stops seeking welfare, it cannot be fixed.
