North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey has declared that the Demons will bounce back from its disastrous 2019 campaign.
After playing off in a preliminary final last year, Melbourne have suffered a mighty fall from grace, sitting 17th with just five wins with one game remaining.
Simon Goodwin's team slumped to a new low on Friday night, falling to the bottom-four Swans by 53 points at the MCG for their sixth-straight loss.
However, Carey believes the Demons are capable of returning to the finals next year and aren't as bad as they've let on.
"I think Melbourne are closer to last year, they can bounce back very quickly," he told Triple M's Saturday Rub.
"They'll get a soft draw for finishing 17th, so automatically, will get better.
"Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. I reckon we've counted three or four players on their last that have been better or equal to what they've done before. All the rest have gone backwards.
"It's all in front of them, I think they are capable. Simon Goodwin is incredibly resilient. I think they'll have a massive pre-season and we will see the real Melbourne next year.
"I think they'll play finals next year."
Melbourne close out its home-and-away campaign against the Kangaroos next Saturday at Blundstone Arena.
