AS EXPECTED in any sport, the Demons have faced some challenges this season.

After starting 2022 with 10 consecutive victories, Melbourne fell to the Dockers in Round 11, the Swans in Round 12 and the Magpies in Round 13.

Coupled with losses to the Cats and Dogs, concerns were raised by fans and media personnel around the Dees’ form.

But throughout this adversity, the club’s senior coach, Simon Goodwin, remained level.

“You get judged over a period of time, but also there’s a reaction externally from a week-to-week perspective,” Goodwin said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“Internally we know we’re tracking in the right direction.”

While Melbourne will hope its loss tally remains at just five for the rest of the season, those five games have undoubtedly assisted the side's growth.

“We’ve won four out of the last six and we think we’ve been able to adjust and make some changes in our game that we think will stand up at the end,” Goodwin said.

Coming off a 46-point win over Fremantle on the road, many believe in the Dees once again, as they prepare for an all-important battle with the equally placed Magpies on Friday night.

But Melbourne’s return to form – in a sense – began earlier than last week at Optus Stadium.

“We played a game up against Port Adelaide a few weeks ago in Alice Springs and there were some really good signs in that game that we were starting to get back to some of the form that we know we can play,” Goodwin said.

“The Bulldogs game was very disappointing, but in the first five minutes on the weekend, the first 10 minutes, you could see there was a real intensity and urgency about the way we defended.

“Our game is underpinned by that – we’ve built that over a period of time.

“You could see that intensity and urgency in our players through their training and the lead up to the game, and they obviously came out and produced it really early in the game.

“That breeds belief, it builds confidence, and we were able to sustain it for four quarters right through the game.”

The Demons will need to lean on that momentum if they want to remain in second spot on the ladder, coming up against a Collingwood outfit which hasn’t tasted defeat since Round 9.