Melbourne farewelled Aaron 'Flash' Davey after 178 games while the Bulldogs said goodbye to Daniel Cross after 210 games. In a nice touch, Davey had old teammates Jared Rivers, David Neitz, Brent Moloney, Brad Green, Alistair Nicholson, Daniel Ward, Brad Miller, Matthew Whelan and Austin Wonaeamirri turn up to form a guard of honour as he ran on to the ground. Unfortunately he had ultra-defensive Bulldog Liam Picken for company but showed his class with a kick to Luke Tapscott in the third quarter and a chase down tackle on Adam Cooney in the last. A brave mark and goal from Cross in the second quarter was a highlight too, given it was just the 33rd goal of his career.
The spectre of Paul Roos hung over Etihad Stadium
He's been cast as a potential messiah since before Mark Neeld was sacked in June but now it looks as though Roos might have been convinced that Melbourne is the club to relaunch his coaching career. He met the club's leadership group on Tuesday and will be casting his eye over the list. There are no A-graders in the team but Jack Viney, Jack Trengove and Jimmy Toumpas could develop into quality players. Mitch Clark and Jesse Hogan are unknown quantities while Jack Watts, if he stays, will need re-programming. Colin Garland and James Frawley are reliable and Jeremy Howe exciting. The only question: is the messiah complex at work again? Time will tell. Its second quarter - when Melbourne conceded nine goals - showed how much work was needed.
The Bulldogs have exciting foundations to build upon
The Bulldogs won four of its last six games to finish the season with eight wins. It has picked a more experienced side in the latter part of the season but it has been the form of Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis that has fans excited. The style is evolving too as the team is working from the inside out. It's learned how to win the contested ball and is now creating some run and forward movement. It has scored heavily in the past five weeks and been near the top of the competition for inside 50s. It had 148 to 103 contested possessions and dominated the game.
Daniel Giansiracusa has had a Lazarus-like season
He has kicked a goal a game since round four and has kicked at least two goals a game in nine of the past 10 games. It's a remarkable performance from the 31-year-old who looked to be serving out his time as a semi-permanent sub and mentor for the young players. By year's end he played in his 250th game, re-signed to play on for one more season, and will move into an assistant coaching role alongside Brendan McCartney. As a case study on how to treat valued servants few could be better than Giansiracusa's experience in 2013.
An injury during the warm-up summed up Melbourne's season
It has been a season to forget for Chris Dawes, who joined the club with high expectations. An injury during pre-season meant he was behind the eight ball. He played hurt and did everything he could to lift his teammates but it was all to no avail as he managed just 12 goals in 12 games and only played in one win. Sadly for Dawes, just minutes before the start of the final game of the season he felt a twinge in his leg and went down to the rooms. Soon enough he was ruled out as Mitch Clark put a consoling arm around him. James Sellar had to quickly strip and was suddenly lining up at full-forward. The bad luck summed up the Demons season. It is one the club will be glad to see the back of and it seemed fitting its final score in the final game was 87.
