A WEAKENED Melbourne side fell to Geelong by 25 points in Saturday afternoon's NAB Challenge match at Skilled Stadium.

The Demons went goalless in the first quarter and never made up the ground as four second-half goals to Cameron Mooney saw the Cats home.

Jared Rivers had done a good job containing Mooney in the first half, but was then rested after complaining of soreness.

The opening half was a forgettable affair, with only five goals kicked as players from both sides struggled in the swirling wind.

But the Cats looked much better in the final two quarters, with Mooney marking strongly and booting four goals in the 11.13 (79) to 7.12 (54) victory.

Melbourne was undermanned after the late withdrawals of Byron Pickett, Cameron Bruce and Nathan Carroll, although all are expected to be fit for the season opener against St Kilda on March 30.

"It's a bit frustrating that we still haven't got our best team out there together but that's how it is," said Demons coach Neale Daniher.

"We actually had a quite a few pull out in the last 24 hours.

"We were in the game at three-quarter time and they probably had a few more players rotating through the game than we did."

Daniher was pleased with the efforts of Brock McLean in his first match of the pre-season.

Travis Johnstone and Daniel Ward were impressive, while Robertson booted three goals despite being generally well held by Mackie.

"I've got no doubt our blokes were thinking about (round one) today while they were playing down here," said Daniher.

"All our focus since the NAB Cup was over has been on round one and we can't wait for the season to start."

MELBOURNE 0.2 2.7 6.8 7.12 (54)

GEELONG 2.5 3.10 7.13 11.13 (79)

Goals: Melbourne: R Robertson 3 D Neitz 2 B Miller M Jamar.
Geelong: C Mooney 4 C Gardiner 2 N Ablett 2 N Djerrkura K Tenace D Wojcinski.

Best: Melbourne: T Johnstone D Ward N Jones M Whelan.
Geelong: J Bartel C Mooney D Milburn D Wojcinski M Scarlett M Egan.

Umpires: M Nicholls M Head B Allen.

Official Crowd: Approx 2,500 at Skilled Stadium.

Injuries: Geelong: S King (corked calf). Melbourne: Nil.

Reports: Nil.