The popular member for South West Coast and Premier of Victoria is facing a painful and humiliating loss to Labor’s Daniel Andrews according to the latest opinion polls published yesterday. The bookmakers also reckon he’ll lose.

Losing government is always hard to take, but for Dr Napthine it will be particularly agonising because he will feel like he wasn’t given a fair go, left as he was to pick up the pieces of a largely ineffective first two years of Coalition government under his predecessor Ted Baillieu.

Mr Baillieu was not suited to the job and that’s putting it mildly. When Dr Napthine took over after Mr Baillieu’s resignation, the government seemed to suddenly come alive but the momentum did not last long.

Although it has been a dreary and unexciting campaign all round, Labor has succeeded in out-manoeuvring the Coalition.

There is still a great deal of pain in the community with people worried about their jobs and their futures. While governments are fond of spruiking the state’s AAA rating, it doesn’t mean much to ordinary citizens who are struggling to pay bills and get by on casual hours.

The economy in Victoria is limping along and that spells doom for Dr Napthine.

It seems likely that voters will opt for a change next week in the shape of the so far uninspiring Daniel Andrews.

Mr Andrews can take some comfort from the fact that if he does win he has a highly experienced team around him which should make his job easier when he is premier.

In south-west Victoria, Dr Napthine’s popularity continues unabated and he is highly likely to win his own seat next week.

There is a fair chance Dr Napthine will retire from politics if Mr Andrews snatches power, leaving a very large question mark as to who his successor in the Liberal Party might be.

In the meantime, for the next seven days Dr Napthine will be praying for a miracle.