"It's the hope that kills you", is a poignant and pithy line attributed variously over the years to Shakespeare, Peter Ustinov, John Cleese or more recently, fictional soccer coach hero Ted Lasso.
But wherever it originated, I'm not sure it's been any more apt than for North Melbourne supporters over the last few years. Indeed, if the Roos were really as bad as some uncharitable critics have suggested in recent seasons, North fans might have found their plight easier to deal with.
No, the Roos haven't won more than four games in any completed season since 2019, and in the period 2020-24 won just 15 games out of 107, a miserable strike rate of 14%.
Yet even in this bleak period, there's been little rays of light, like wins in Alastair Clarkson's first two games in charge in 2023, or this same stage last year, when North won a couple of games and lost three more narrowly over five weeks.
Both those moments dissolved into more misery, which is what will be uppermost in North Melbourne minds now after another brutal reality check against Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday, the Roos, after not just a few weeks but two months of solid, consistent football, being systematically ripped apart again.
Until the Hawks shellacking, North had strung together three wins, a draw, three losses by nine points or less, and another in which they trailed by just three points at three-quarter time. Sadly, that didn't amount to a more resilient performance this time against a habitual nemesis.
Like most of the other North Melbourne shockers of the past five years, and there's now been 14 defeats by 70 points or more since 2021, this one was on the cards from the opening minutes, Hawthorn with five goals to one by the 17-minute mark.
While there's always healthy debate about the competence or otherwise of North's attack and defence, it's the midfield in which the Roos' riches are stacked, and when that group is beaten as badly as it was against Hawthorn, the result is inevitable.
North Melbourne's biggest single biggest improvement in 2025 has been in its stoppage game. Last year, the Roos ranked 11th for clearances on differentials and were 16th for scoring from their stoppage wins. Those equivalent rankings before Saturday had climbed to third and third.
But against the Hawks, by half-time, the clearance count was 27-18 the Hawks' way (it finished 44-30) and as a result in just two quarters Hawthorn racked up 36 inside 50s to 18. No wonder the Hawks couldn't help but score against a beleaguered North Melbourne defence, an eventual 23.12 (150) the 31st time North Melbourne has conceded 100 points or more 51 games under Clarkson.
There's an argument, also, that the timing couldn't possibly be worse, with a five-day turnaround until one of North Melbourne's biggest games for some time, Thursday night's clash with the Western Bulldogs in which the club is marking its 100th birthday as a league club.
How should Clarkson respond to his team's uncompetitiveness against the Hawks? Well, if you want fire and brimstone (at least publicly) you might be disappointed. Clarkson post-game on Saturday implied pretty strongly that there wouldn't be any overreactions.
"We don't want to dig too deep into it and be too forensic on it," he said. "We look at the block of work that's been done over the last six or eight weeks and think that we're making some progress. But we came up against a good side today that played some pretty good footy."
That's not a response which will please the content creators on the Monday and Tuesday night TV footy shows, already asking again: "Has North Melbourne really improved?". To which Clarkson's retort (and mine, too, for what it's worth) will no doubt be: "Tough luck, and yes, the Roos have really improved."
North's four wins are already as many as the Roos have recorded in any season since 2019. Their percentage continues to rise - even after Saturday's belting, 78.5 is still better than three other teams and significantly better than North's past two seasons. Granted, it's not happening at a rate of knots, but there is measurable improvement.
But that aside, the obvious question to those sceptical that any progress is being made is: "What would you do now if that was actually the case?" And the answers don't exactly present themselves.
Is a coach other than a four-time premiership coach going to make any substantial difference in the short or even medium term? And if the list isn't good enough, what can the club do other than continue to invest primarily in the draft and development?
On the Footyology podcast, Rodney Eade said players need to be defer to medical teams when faced with injuries, after Bulldogs midfielder Adam Treloar injured his calf in the win over Richmond.
Even with three seasoned trade-ins this year in Luke Parker, Jack Darling and Caleb Daniel, the Roos are still the youngest list in the competition. And most of their better players are either young or in the prime of their careers in age terms.
What on earth would scrapping this group and starting again achieve, knowing it would take another few years to assemble a list with enough talent the likes of Luke Davies-Uniacke, Harry Sheezel, Paul Curtis, George Wardlaw, Colby McKercher, Charlie Comben and co.?
So yes, Roo fans, be frustrated by morale-sapping setbacks like Saturday. But at least recognise that while, metaphorically, the hope might kill you, it's at least better than already being dead. And no supporter base should understand that better than North Melbourne's.
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at FOOTYOLOGY.