NOT THE REAL THING YET by The Oracle

Melbourne finished off this year’s NAB Challenge undefeated after a bright showing at its former nemesis Etihad Stadium and recorded its first win against St Kilda in the near ten years since it last played an AFL finals series.

The Demons again started slowly conceding easy goals to turnovers before picking up the tempo in the second term and outplaying the Saints for the rest of the match.

Despite Max Gawn's early ruck dominance, it was St Kilda that was winning the clearance battle in the early going with Melbourne conceding some soft goals but making up for it with positive movement forward. Jack Watts continued to shine in his half forward role keeping his team in the game at this stage. Tom McDonald was a rock in defence and he was finding his targets this week.

After the break, the Demon engine room, led by the skipper came to the fore and with him, Jack Viney, Dom Tyson and Bernie Vince lifted a notch while pre season revelation Clayton Oliver stepped in with two goals from his strong play.

The Saints made some attempts to surge back into the game in the second half but the Demons had all the answers. Jeff Garlett was superb with two goals in a minute. Jesse Hogan, who was being double teamed and having a poor day, lifted for a couple in the second half.

Newcomers Tom Bugg and Ben Kennedy added the hard competitive edge for which they were recruited and scored a goal each. Dean Kent was also strong with two goals. But the impressive of the field was Christian Salem with a consistent four quarter performance all over the ground. One minute he was holding the opposition at bay and the next he was scoring a super goal - also a first in a while for the club.

The NAB Challenge of 2016 has been great for the Melbourne Football Club but being the champions in March is meaningless if you don't perform from round 1 of the real thing.

Melbourne 0.4.1.25 0.8.5.53  0.11.12.78 1.14.14.107

St Kilda 0.4.5.29 0.6.7.43 0.9.10.64 0.12.21.83   

Nine pointers

Melbourne Salem

Goals

Melbourne Garlett 3 Hogan Kent Oliver Watts 2 Bugg Kennedy Pedersen T Bugg

St Kilda Billings 3 Bruce 2 Armitage Dunstan Hickey Montagna Newnes Steven Weller

Best

Melbourne Salem Garlett Watts N Jones Viney Bugg Gawn

St Kilda Steven, Montagna Billings Ross Bruce Lonie Newnes

Injuries

Melbourne Jetta (ankle) M Jones (concussion)

St Kilda Riewoldt (soreness)

Umpires Chris Donlon Dean Margetts Leigh Fisher Jack Edwards

Crowd 8,621 at Etihad Stadium

Meanwhile, on Saturday at Casey Fields, Jayden Hunt and Heritier Lumumba were among the few good players in the Scorpions' big defeat at the hands of reigning premier Williamstown.