Melbourne are being urged to re-set and learn the hard lessons from the last three AFL seasons, with their leaders insistent the best can be yet to come.
Coach Simon Goodwin and captain Max Gawn joined Demons president Brad Green in using their speeches at Friday night's club best and fairest function as a call to arms.
Melbourne have slumped badly since their drought-breaking 2021 premiership, dropping out of the top eight this season amid off-field turmoil.
There was speculation about Clayton Oliver's future at the club until the day of the best and fairest - as was the case a year ago. Green confirmed in his speech that Oliver will remain a Demon.
Christian Petracca also considered his future at Melbourne before confirming he would stay. He skipped Friday's function for a training trip overseas as he continues to recover from the horror on-field injuries that ended his season.
Much-loved teammate Angus Brayshaw gave an emotional speech on Friday night after he was forced to retire before the season started because of concussion issues.
Gawn finished a narrow runner-up to Jack Viney in Melbourne's best-and-fairest voting. The skipper spoke of his '21 premiership ring and how he was using it as motivation.
The ruckman noted the rocky road that Melbourne took from 2017, when Goodwin became coach, to the premiership.
"There's a journey. Every time I look at (his ring) I go '2022 didn't go the way we wanted, 2023 didn't go the way we wanted' - 2024 reminds me of 2019," Gawn said.
"But it doesn't just happen. Premierships are so hard. And this ring reminds me ... the journey's the fun bit.
"Now I look back at 2018, 2019 and at that time, I was miserable. I look back at those years and go 'they were great years' ... we learned, we developed, we became closer friends.
"It's hard to see it, but that's what I see these last three years as. I'm going to look back in 2025, 2026, whenever that ultimate glory happens, and go '2024 was the year that did that'. That's what that ring reminds me of."
Goodwin similarly spoke to the need to focus on improving and building a strong team, rather than only thinking about another premiership.
"The question I have tonight is 'why, really, do we do what we do?' Is it only to win, or is there something deeper driving us?," he told the audience.
"Is a premiership enough? If we let the outcome define us, we risk losing sight of something more meaningful - the journey, the process.
"Don't get me wrong. It's most certainly what we all crave ... but if we ourselves be consumed only by the outcome, we will find it drifting further away.
"What we need to love and completely commit to, is the process. If you don't find joy and fulfilment in the process itself, we cannot achieve the desired outcome ... we have to fall in love with the hard work ahead."
He pointed to the celebrations by Oscar McInerney after Brisbane won the flag last weekend, calling the injured Lion ruckman's spirit "contagious"
"Oscar's reaction on the final siren tells us all we need to know about Brisbane, and what the outcome looks like when you commit fully and find joy in putting the team ahead of (yourself)," Goodwin said.
