Grand final day was all too hard to bear for Steven May, and even though Melbourne did not feature, he looks to have his pen at the ready to circle the date of his next battle with AFL premiers Collingwood.
Seven days after Collingwood went on to capture its third consecutive finals win in single digits, the Larrakia full back launched a scathing attack on the club's traditional rivals.
The Magpies won by seven points against the Demons in the opening week of finals before May's side crashed out in a two-point loss against Carlton.
Speaking at the club presentation night where he finished fifth in the best and fairest count, May labelled Melbourne a "better team" while speaking over his personal devastation at watching Collingwood claim a four-point win over Brisbane.
"I've had a few fans come up to me, and (say), 'I really appreciate and respect how much you hate losing', which is awesome, and I do, and I don't want to talk about them in hindsight," he said.
"But you know, we lose to Collingwood, and they go on to win the flag, and it f***ing hurts because we're a better team than them.
"We should have smoked them, and to sit there on grand final day and watch them hoist the cup, and get the medals, I'm sitting there going, 'geez, our team's so much better than these guys'."
The remarks garnered cheers, laughter and applause from dinner guests and keen supporters at the presentation on Friday night.
May acknowledged the support, but also spoke about the reality of where Melbourne currently sits after bowing out of back-to-back campaigns with four successive finals defeats.
That unflattering recent record comes off capturing the 2021 premiership in Perth to end a 57-year title drought.
"We should've been out there again, but we weren't," May added.
"We've got an unbelievable list, an unbelievable coaching group, and the hunger has never been hungrier.
"I'm blessed to be a part of this team and looking forward to next year."
Collingwood finished two wins ahead of Melbourne on the AFL premiership ladder, and it would be a four-win difference had the Dees not claimed a narrow victory on King's Birthday Monday.
But May's rant came after the statistics suggested Melbourne blew their opportunities after 69 entries inside the 50m arc compared to just 37 for Collingwood.
Melbourne also won a further 24 contested possessions in the first quarter alone, but went to the break already 20 points in arrears.
By the final siren, the Demons 23 shots on goal to the Magpies' 15 mattered for little on the scoreboard.
As if the qualifying final loss, and eyeing off the Magpies on the premiership podium was not hard enough to swallow, May was hospitalised from an allergic reaction the next night after dinner and spent the night under observation.
He was discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
