Melbourne captain Max Gawn shoulders responsibility for last-minute calamity in loss to St Kilda
The Demons, who led by 46 points at the final change, conceded nine goals in the last quarter as the Saints overturned the greatest three-quarter time deficit in history thanks to a Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera goal on the siren.
In a wild final few minutes, Harrison Petty spilled a mark that would have sealed the match, and Clayton Oliver also failed to score anything from just 30m out.
Wanganeen-Milera then took a brilliant contested mark and converted the tough set shot to level the scores with eight seconds remaining.
The Demons still looked likely to escape with a draw until a costly '6-6-6' free kick and the confusion that followed allowed the emerging Saints superstar to run into space and take an uncontested mark as the siren sound.
Gawn said the players chatted amongst themselves before they were addressed by under-fire coach Simon Goodiwin.
'We spent 10 minutes in the rooms before Goody called us in. We talked among ourselves for a little bit, and talked about the mechanism of the last play and tried to find out what actually happened, then Goody brought us in,' he said on Triple M.
'There's been five times this year where we haven't known how to win; Giants in the first game we lost by a kick-out, Collingwood we lost by a ruckman trying to kick a torp across goal, and then last week against Carlton we also stuffed up and I think there's a fifth one in there as well.
'So we're not knowing how to win in those close games. We do a bit of training in it, but right now, we don't know how to win in those close games which comes down to resilience and ruthlessness.
'We have to learn how to win. We will talk the talk again in training ... all our talk is there and then when we get to the point, and we don't do it. Now is our chance to do it, we've got West Coast and then three games at the G.'
Gawn also shouldered responsibility for the calamitous final minute that saw the midfield group effectively allow Wanganeen-Milera to stream forward unmanned.
There was a 60-second delay from when the free kick was awarded to when it was taken while the players on the field had to reset into their specific zone.
While Saints stars Wanganeen-Milera and Rowan Marshall conjured up the match-winning play, Demons players looked confused and unsure what to do.
Jack Viney was stranded on the wing and could have pushed up closer to defensive 50 and potentially filled the hole that Wanganeen-Milera ran into.
'I'm probably the only one on the field who knows that we got a warning in the second quarter, one; I can remember and two; they tell the ruckmen, it's a weird and unique thing in football where they tell the ruckmen,' Gawn said.
'We were about to step in the circle, and I realised we had about two or three seconds to find a winger; there wasn't a winger on the other side. From there, I probably didn't nail it.
'In the end, it's three seconds, so I don't have much time, but I sent (Jack Viney) to the wing and tried to get a forward in – but it was actually a back that we had too many of.
'I was trying to count as quickly as I could in three seconds.
'After that free kick happened, we probably didn't nail it as well.'
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