THERE'S good news and bad news for Melbourne fans despairing over their side's alarming form dive in front of goal.

The bad news: you're not making it up. The Demons are comfortably the worst goalkicking team in the AFL over the past month, scoring a major from just 27.9 per cent of their shots (including complete misses) from rounds 12-16.

That's more than 13 percentage points worse than 17th-ranked Gold Coast, which has booted a goal from 41.7 per cent of shots over the same period.

The good news? You've been here before, and everything turned out just fine.

Melbourne suffered a similar slump at a similar stage of the year in 2021, when Simon Goodwin's men went at an AFL-worst 37.5 per cent goalkicking accuracy from rounds 13-19. They recalibrated their radar ahead of a round 20 clash against Gold Coast and won by 98 points, kickstarting a seven-game winning streak that culminated in a flag.

That's not to say that 2023 will follow the same storyline; only that Goodwin's faith that his side can fix its issues in front of goal isn't misplaced.

The Demons have recent form on their side – not just from 2021, but from as recently as six weeks ago. After round 11, Melbourne was ranked No.1 in the AFL for goalkicking accuracy with 55.7 per cent.

But those days seemed a long way off in the Alice Springs twilight on Sunday, when Melbourne trudged from the field after managing just 5.15 (45) from 74 inside 50s in a two-point loss to Greater Western Sydney.

That scoreline followed returns of 8.15 (v Geel), 8.18 (v Coll), 8.13 (v Carl) and 10.12 (v Frem). That's a total of 39.73 in five weeks, not including shots that missed everything.

Geelong (51.8 per cent), Collingwood (51.3) and North Melbourne (50.8) lead the way in goalkicking accuracy this season, while Carlton (43.4 per cent), Hawthorn (43.5) and West Coast (45.0) bring up the rear.

Digging a little deeper, the majority of the drop-off has come from the Dees' non-key forwards. Kade Chandler, Kysaiah Pickett and Christian Petracca have all suffered significant downturns in their past four games.

Conversely, it's been two of the big targets who have held their form the best. Jacob van Rooyen leads the way with a conversion rate of 70.8 per cent, while Brodie Grundy has delivered on his promise, booting a goal from 62.5 per cent of his shots.

There are plenty of factors that contribute to accuracy rates – including where a team generates it shots, the skill of the player kicking for goal, the weather conditions on any given day – so there is no simple fix.

But if there's one player who can kickstart the Dees' revival in front of goal, it's superstar midfielder Petracca. His goal accuracy across the season is just 26.1 per cent, with 12 goals from 46 shots. That stat wasn't helped by his return of 0.4 against the Giants, marring an otherwise excellent performance that featured 34 touches, five clearances, seven inside 50s and a game-high 685m gained.

Get that back up near the AFL's season average of 47.7 per cent and the Demons will be generating an extra goal a game, given Petracca's average of 3.06 shots per match.

In a season where two of Melbourne's six losses have come by less than a kick, one more goal significantly changes the story of the club's season.

Petracca, Goodwin and the Dees will be hoping that turnaround happens sooner rather than later – ideally under the roof at Marvel Stadium against St Kilda on Saturday night.