WHEN Port Adelaide forward Jay Schulz kicked the match-winner and the siren sounded less than two minutes later, it was a heartbreaking moment for anyone who bleeds red and blue.

The fact that Melbourne was in front at the 21-minute mark of the final term – after trailing by 30 points in the second term – until Schulz’s sealer at the 26-minute mark was a tough pill to swallow.

No question, it was an outstanding comeback by the Demons, but in the end, the Power claimed a memorable three-point victory, giving club great Dom Cassisi a fitting sendoff.

Had the 16^th placed Melbourne overcome the fifth on the ladder Port Adelaide on the Power’s home soil – it would’ve been a win to saviour.

And had the Demons won consecutive matches at Adelaide Oval in 2014 – remembering Melbourne hadn’t won in the city of churches since 2001, before its thrilling win over Adelaide in round seven – it would’ve been an outstanding achievement by any team in the competition.

Still, coach Paul Roos said Melbourne’s ability to almost make it two from two in Adelaide this year was yet another “massive step forward” for the club.

“To come over here twice and to play Adelaide and beat them and play Port and lose by three points [is a fine effort],” he said.

“We’ve come an enormous way as a club, but it’s about not dropping your standards like we did last week and the week before against Freo [and Geelong]. They’re really good teams, but so are Port.

“For us, it’s about maintaining high standards as a group and playing together as a team and learning from those mistakes, so I’d much rather be sitting here losing by three [points] than 66 [points] last week against Geelong, because you’re non-competitive and you don’t give your team a chance to win.

“I thought we were super against [Port Adelaide] – a really competitive footy team.”

In another timely reminder of how far the Demons have come since last year, it was also the sixth time they have dropped a match by 20 points of less – a far cry from 2013, when they couldn’t get within cooee of most oppositions.

“[We’re] consistently putting ourselves in positions to win games,” coach Paul Roos said.

“That’s been a real positive this year. Even though we’ve only [had] four wins … you need to keep putting yourself in that position.

“There are probably another five games we’ve been in front in the last quarter, so we’re putting ourselves in the position and the next stage of it is to learn how to win games of footy.”

Melbourne also continued another interesting trend on the weekend, when it came back from a significant deficit. And while the Demons haven’t always got the points – although they did against Essendon in round 13, when they came back from a 33-point deficit to win by one-point – they have shown good character to come back, when previously the game would’ve petered out. 

“[The second quarter] could’ve been another disaster for the Melbourne footy club,” Roos said.

“It could’ve been 70 points or 80 points and we know how quickly Port can put a gap on you.”

“To [comeback and] kick six goals [in a row] was just a terrific effort.”

Interestingly, the first part of the split round 18 was also prominent for teams near or on the bottom to show that they could genuinely compete against sides higher on the ladder, such as St Kilda’s epic 68-point win over Fremantle and GWS’ almost come-from-behind win over Geelong.

“If you bring effort, you can challenge some of the better teams in the competition, but like the last two weeks for us [against Fremantle and Geelong] – if you don’t, you’re going to get smashed,” Roos said.

“But there were definitely more positives than negatives [against Port Adelaide] – there’s no question.

“It’s a very small margin against a very good footy team.”