I’ve written extensively before on why I believe Melbourne is so, so bad and don’t want to rehash it here again. Instead, after last week’s sad capitulation to Hawthorn, which followed hot on the heels of our drubbing by Geelong, I want instead to reflect on why I follow Melbourne at all (cue witty responses from opposing supporters).

See, in case you have been living under a rock or watching only good football, prior to the Geelong loss we also lost to St Kilda, Western Bulldogs, Richmond, West Coast and Brisbane. None have really been close.

If we discount a win over the then first year Gold Coast in August, Melbourne have not won a game over an AFL club since July 16 last year when they beat Port in Darwin. With many people picking Melbourne to go winless up to their bye, this would mean they will be without a win in the regular season for a year, discounting the Gold Coast (which you’ll agree they really couldn’t lose against, so no credit received there).

It would be fair to say the ineptitude of Melbourne over the last five years has highlighted to me how much I love this club because there is no logical reason to follow them. I’ve been to almost all their games and watched the rest on television. I’ve seen some of the worst football ever played – unless you’ve seen it all you can’t really imagine how bad. Poor skills, mystifying decision making and poor coaching.

In this time, I’ve also been to many AFL games not featuring Melbourne and each time I came away shocked at how exciting good footy can be and how skilful the players were.

As a supporter of the Demons, a true supporter who doesn’t ski, the last few years have been soul destroying. I now just sit there numb with no expectations, no yelling or carrying on. Inside I’m dying though and it doesn’t end. There is no light at the end of a tunnel; we are in a welded shut box at the bottom of the ocean (James Cameron visited recently).

Yet despite all this I still care; my numbness only protects me for a while. Last season, I sat through the Geelong game where Melbourne copped the the second-biggest defeat in AFL/VFL history, a 186-point loss.

Roy and HG had a marvelous insight into the Luge as a sport when they said it was the only sport you could get someone to do involuntarily and it would look the same. The ‘men’s involuntary luge’ they called the event.

Melbourne could have put the Anti-AFL league or whatever that protest group is called on the field that day and it would have looked the same.

That day broke me, especially coming on the back of the week before when Melbourne players didn’t even bother to move past a jog against Hawthorn.

When I read this week that Robert Walls claims the club overreacted by sacking Dean Bailey, I began cursing out loud, my numbness gone. Let me make it clear, Bailey was an absolute disaster. There was no overreaction. The fact Cameron Schwab is still CEO and rumored to get another year is proof that if anything, there was an under reaction. Neeld is now basically having to build a team from scratch. It is like an expansion team but with the baggage of history instead of a fresh start.

While Walls’ comments just reaffirmed everything I already think of him, the fact is Melbourne fans should be far more angry; we can no longer be numb. We are a supporter base that does care, we do buy memberships and we do show up (it’s a miracle we do at all. The fact some of us do attend, given what we have put up with going back to 1964, is a testament to how much we do love this club).

Earlier this year Jack Trengove (a person and player I rate) urged the supporters to stick with them. Well Jack, we are doing our part and have done so long before you arrived.

The question is not are the supporters able to handle it, it’s are the playing group?