FOR the past three rounds, Melbourne has not played at the MCG.

It’s the only time this year it will have played three consecutive weeks away from the home of football.

During this time, it included two of the biggest road trips in football: from Melbourne to Darwin and Melbourne to Perth.

In between, it had a match at Etihad Stadium.

To achieve three out of three would’ve been an outstanding achievement for Melbourne.

Not out of the realms of possibility, but objectively a difficult feat.

If it claimed two wins, then it could’ve drawn some inspiration from Meat Loaf’s famous number: ‘Two out of three ain’t bad’.

But that wasn’t the case.

One out of three mightn’t sound crash hot either, but it’s still better than 0-3.

A golden opportunity was missed by one straight kick and one slightly wider to claim victory against the West Coast Eagles on Saturday.

And given the fact Melbourne hadn’t even got to within six points in the past 12 years at Subiaco – against either West Coast or Fremantle – it was a strong effort.

No question, it was one of the most frustrating losses of the season.

It was there for the taking.

But a strong sense of pride should also be taken from the game, considering West Coast has lost just three of its past 26 at the venue since 2014.

It would’ve been a mighty win by Melbourne – probably even better than its win over Geelong at the Cattery last season – when it upstaged the home side.

Instead, despite leading just about every major statistic possible – it had 66 inside 50s to 37 – Melbourne’s inaccuracy proved costly, when it kicked 8.12 to 10.6.

On the back of a disappointing loss to St Kilda at Docklands, it would’ve been the perfect response – and it was so close to achieving it.

That’s why it’s the one that got away.

There was no doubt Melbourne was poor against the Saints, particularly after such a promising first quarter.

But after St Kilda’s win against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday reinforced that the Saints are hardly a lay down misère.

In fact, St Kilda has now won seven of its past nine matches and is ninth on the ladder, pushing for a late finals berth.

Like not beating West Coast at home for the first time since 2002, not ending a losing streak against St Kilda that dates back to 2006 is incredibly frustrating.

But in isolation this year, the Saints have also claimed the Cats as scalps and fallen short to Hawthorn in Tassie by three points.

So the only win from the past three weeks came in the Northern Territory.

But winning up in the Top End was significant for Melbourne, given it hadn’t won in the Territory since 2011, nor had it beaten Fremantle in the past five years.  

Overall, one out of three wasn’t the result the red and blue was looking for, but aside from a lapse against the Saints, the two biggest road trips were ticks – even if one was a loss.

Still, with five weeks to go and three matches back at the MCG, coach Paul Roos said the next stage of Melbourne’s development was around execution and composure, since it came so close against West Coast and has pushed other top eight teams North Melbourne and Hawthorn this year.

“We look at Hawthorn this year, I think they’ve won five games by less than a goal, because in the key moments in games … they know exactly what to do and that only comes with experience,” he said.

“We kicked it back too many times and we were streaming through the middle of the ground and someone messed it up.

“They’re just about composure and experience, and as we get more composure and experience, and we play more games together and the players get more confident with each other – those inside 50s turn into scoring shots.”

It reinforces how important the next five weeks are for Melbourne.