Melbourne believe they do not need an external review of the football department to tell them what has gone wrong despite an alarming falling away and that this season will prove the outlier, not last season.

Demons president Glen Bartlett rejected the idea that last year’s preliminary final was a flash-in-the-pan season and instead believed this year would prove the aberration.

He said he still believed the season was still alive for his 16th-placed side and they could finish strongly in their remaining seven games.

You can sit and cry about what has happened but that is not what we are about. No one can deny we are on top of the injury ladder

Independent reviews of football departments have been popular at clubs in similar situations to Melbourne to seek to identify what went wrong and where improvements could be made. Bartlett said that was unnecessary.