LAST season saw Melbourne get the closest they have ever got to breaking through for that elusive first flag, losing to Adelaide in the Grand Final.

Despite the obvious frustrations that come with that, Melbourne coach Mick Stinear can see both sides of the equation.

“You can look at it both ways. The positive is we’re there abouts, the opportunity is we haven’t quite been good enough to be the best team in the competition.

“Adelaide have just been a really dominant team and Brisbane have been really strong as well in the last couple of years, but I think it’s just a reminder that we keep our head down, we’ve got to keep working, we’ve got to evolving our game, keep evolving our list and get better. No one in the group is satisfied with what we’ve achieved, if anything the quick turnaround in seasons has been a good outcome for our group.”

Stinear had some ideas about where things went wrong on Grand Final Day.

“I think we evolved from the previous year. We lost the Prelim to Adelaide the previous year and I think we just regret not showing up and not competing and not giving the best version of ourselves.” he said.

“Fast forward 12 months, the team is certainly a lot more competitive, physical, the intent and effort was there unfortunately we just couldn’t get our game to flow at any stage, and a lot of that is due to Adelaide the way the defend and their pressure and they’re a quality team.

“Unfortunately we just didn’t function as a team on Grand Final day, that was our big lesson. We had good growth in terms of effort and intensity from all the individuals, but we need to be better at executing as a team in those big moments. That’s certainly something we’ve been working on so we’re confident if we can put our head down and earn another opportunity we’ll be better for the experience.”

Stinear said that the Dees have been working on a few things in the offseason to finally break through for that first flag.

“I’ll say a few little positional changes, changes to our list but in terms of our programs it’s the way we compete, the intensity of which we train, training under pressure, executing our skill under pressure, problem solving and ability to think clearly and work together as a team.” Stinear said.

“Overall, its just the commitment to each other and the level of genuine care and authenticity about how we want to function as a team on and off the field and believe that if we get that right then in big moments we will be able to overcome any situation and work through it together.”

The latest round of expansion was rather kind to Melbourne, with the Dees not losing many players to the last four expansion sides.

Stinear was full of praise for his team that despite the challenges of last season and the big offers from elsewhere that they still wanted to stay at the Dees.

“Expansion was really challenging for everyone I think. Footy clubs are made up of people and you invest a lot of time, and the relationships are built and you don’t like to see anyone go. From a coaching point of view, we are committed to helping the players be the best they can be, so it’s always interesting when you have to turnover players at the end of the year.

“We were really pleased and thankful that our core group were really committed to each other and disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way last season, but they really want to be a part of a successful team and they love the environment, and they can see that they’re growing as people and as players. That was good feedback from the program that we’re running and the environment we’ve got at the club that people want to stay despite being provided big offers to go to elsewhere.”

The Dees did bring in some new faces in the offseason, including the likes of Jordan Ivey and Blaithin Mackin, and Stinear was full of praise for the new faces.

“I think you’ll see them fit in nicely into the group. There’s a variety of personalities but a common thread of competitiveness, a will to win and selflessness that they want to see others succeed and enjoy in their success as well, so we feel like we’ve brought in a lot of good new team mates.” he said.

Stinear was happy with the performance from his team in their practise match against Carlton two weeks ago.

“I think it was a good hit out for us. I think we had parts of the game on our terms, so player’s ability to move the ball from defensive 50 to inside 50, and to maximise opportunity in front of goal, that was really pleasing.” he said.

“The opportunity for growth is Carlton increased the pressure in the second quarter and their physicality around the ball, and they started to get repeat entries in their forward half, and then our learning was just our ability to be able to step up, match their intensity and then just make better decisions with the ball when the pressure goes up. The game had a good combination of some positives and some learnings, so hopefully that’ll help us be prepared for Adelaide next week.”