ON SATURDAY night against Geelong, St Kilda suffered its first loss of more than 100 points since round four, 2002.

 

Hit with injuries, the Saints were uncompetitive for the first time in a long time.  

 

By contrast, Melbourne has had five triple-figure losses in 44 games under three coaches in the same period of time.

 

Only Dean Bailey, Mark Neeld and Neil Craig understand the feeling of helplessness that can come from coaching that mob.

 

But supporting them must be harder than house bricks too.

 

The Demons' loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday was beyond belief.

 

With eight scoring shots, it equalled the lowest number of scoring shots ever recorded at Etihad Stadium and the equal second lowest score at the venue.

 

Melbourne's forward 50 resembled a vacant lot during the first quarter, with just two inside 50s.

 

Nathan Jones, Colin Sylvia and Colin Garland are the only Demons consistently performing at AFL standard. 

Jones has 61 more disposals, 57 more contested possessions and 45 more clearances than his closest teammate in each category.

 

James Frawley and Jack Grimes have battled the odds with injury, while the first-year players and Tom McDonald can be excused.

 

As a team though, the effort was ordinary.

 

The only possible reason for the dip that has credence is that after four weeks at higher intensity than this group had played at before, they collectively (and subconsciously) let their guard down.

 

As Craig said, they came to perform rather than play.

 

The difficulty facing teams such as Melbourne - that made ordinary decisions for several drafts before 2012 - is that the AFL talent pool has been spread so thin that the gap between the best players in the competition and the worst is huge.

 

Between 2008-2010, the average number of players used was 577. Since the inception of the Suns, the average number of players used per year (including this year) has been 655, with five games remaining in 2013.

 

That means 78 more players, on average, play AFL football each year than before the Suns began.

 

The influx of extras can make it harder to assess individual talent within poor-performing teams. Everyone knows good teams make good players as much as good players make good teams.

It's why an experienced coach at the helm is important for the Demons to move forward. 

 

However, at some point, the players must accept the notion that 'if it is to be, it is up to me.'

 

That's why the post-game comments of co-captain Jack Grimes, an honest performer before he went down with injury, were galling.

 

 

That mindset has to change.

 

Because the off-field effort being made to give Melbourne a chance is enormous. The players have few scapegoats left.

 

Since 2011, Melbourne has had more 100-point plus defeats than any other team except for Greater Western Sydney. The Suns have not been defeated by that margin since round 12, 2012.

 

Another pre-season will improve Melbourne but it has much ground to make up in a ruthless competition.

 

The introduction of the expansion clubs has led to an increase of 100-plus margins from one in 2009 to four in 2010, 10 in 2011, nine in 2012 and already six this season.

 

Three of those six 100-plus margins have come in the past three rounds as teams start to tire.

 

Obviously there have been 22 extra games played a year since 2012 but the trend is clear.

 

The gap between competitive teams and those in serious strife is widening.