MELBOURNE put on a brave show, but went down by 37 points to ladder leader St Kilda at Gold Coast Stadium on Saturday night, 11.17 (83) to 6.10 (46).

The Demons matched it with their highly fancied opponents for the first half, chasing and tackling their way to within eight points at the main break.

But a scoreless third term proved their undoing, and Melbourne failed to register a major for the entire second half.

Saints spearhead Nick Riewoldt proved the difference up forward, booting four goals, while Lenny Hayes was very tough to stop, racking up 35 disposals all over the ground.

For the Demons, Mark Jamar (29 hit-outs) was influential in his first game of the year, marking strongly and dominating Michael Gardiner and Steven King in the ruck.

Brad Green chipped in with 22 touches while Brock McLean (23), Brent Moloney (24), Colin Sylvia (24) and the evergreen Cameron Bruce (25) were busy.

But Melbourne paid dearly for their ineffective kicking inside 50. They couldn’t find a significant marking target, instead relying on an array of midfielders including Bruce, Green and Sylvia to kick singles.

The Saints held a slender four-point buffer at quarter time but the Demons had the better of the early stages with some ferocious tackling and spirited chasing.

It was only St Kilda’s greater efficiency in front of goal which gave them the edge, along with a couple of moments of brilliance from Goddard, including two goals and a magnificent specie at full stretch in the 16th minute of the first quarter.

The ball-winning ability of Hayes and Montagna proved a thorn in Melbourne’s side, while the hard running Clinton Jones wore Aaron Davey like a glove, restricting his impact.

The Demons had plenty of inspired passages of play themselves, including a dashing, weaving goal to 20-year-old defender James Frawley, his first in 29 games.

Frawley provided good stability on the last line of defence as well, alongside Jared Rivers.

Melbourne’s flood, which at times resulted in all 18 players inside their defensive 50, worked a treat in the first half as the Saints had trouble finding a way through.

Easy misses from point-blank range by Riewoldt and Montagna didn’t help their cause.

The Demons’ hard work was rewarded when Brad Green steamed into the forward line at the 25-minute mark of the second term, booting his side to within six points.

McLean and Brent Moloney provided Melbourne with much needed midfield drive, up against the rampant Hayes, who had 23 disposals to half time.

Matthew Warnock restricted Riewoldt to two goals in the first half while Matthew Bate gave Demon fans something to cheer about in the second term.

After a Raphael Clarke fumble, he pounced on a loose ball and ran to the 50m arc, dribbling it over an open goal line.

Two goals to Riewoldt at the start of the third term and a precision set shot from the boundary by Jarryn Geary saw the margin extend to 27 points.

The scoreless term was costly for Melbourne, which just couldn’t find a marking target inside forward 50.

But they ran hard and tackled to the death in the final quarter, showing fans enough to suggest a second win for the season is surely not far away.

Melbourne will be sweating on the fitness of key midfielder James McDonald,  who hyper extended his knee at the 13th minute mark of the third term.

The Demons have an eight-day break before taking on Collingwood at the MCG on Monday week.

ST KILDA  5.3  7.8  10.11 11.17 (83)
MELBOURNE  4.5  6.6  6.6  6.10 (46)

GOALS
St Kilda: Riewoldt 4, Goddard 2, Ray, Koschitzke, Gwilt, Geary, McQualter
Melbourne: Sylvia, Bruce, Frawley, Maric, Bate, Green

BEST
St Kilda: Hayes, Jones, Reiwoldt, Dal Santo, Montagna
Melbourne: Jamar, Rivers, McLean, Bruce, Green, Moloney, Goddard

INJURIES
St Kilda: Milne (knee) replaced in selected side by Gram
Melbourne: None

Reports: Nil
Umpires: Matthew James, Stefan Grun, Chris Kamolins
Official crowd: 9112 at Gold Coast Stadium

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs.