THURSDAY night’s match at Adelaide Oval certainly wasn’t pretty, but that’s just how Melbourne likes it.

Restricting Port Adelaide to just four goals on home soil, it was a dominant defensive display by the Demons which set up their fourth win from as many outings in 2022.

“That’s the type of footy that we want to play,” Lever told Melbourne Media after his side’s 32-point win.

“As a defensive group I think they had five points at half-time.

“Goody put the challenge on us that he didn’t want them to score for the rest of the match. I think that was going to be hard but it just shows what we value, and in the end that’s what’s winning us football games and keeping us in football games for longer.”

The Power showed resistance early in the game, with just one goal registered to the mid-way point of the second term.

But a five-goal run prior to the main break saw the away side gain all the ascendancy.

“I think you could sense in the game that we were close to scoring, we probably just weren’t finishing it off,” Lever said.

“What Port did to us tonight was really unique.

“They’re usually a really forward football team and I don’t know how many times they switched the ball, but it was a lot during the game.

“I think that when we got our opportunities we were almost gassed and we didn’t take our time.

“We weren’t really calm with the ball so I think that’s probably going to be a review.

“But once we were I think that it just opened up and our forwards were able to get on the end of it, our mids were really good, and our defence could just set up behind the ball.”

The Round 4 match marked Lever’s first of the season, returning from a foot injury against Port Adelaide.

And while the All-Australian defender registered just seven disposals, he was content with his opening hit-out of the year.

“I didn’t obviously play any VFL games and I knew when I came in I was ready to perform,” he said.

“I knew that I wasn’t going to dominate tonight.

“I knew that it was going to probably take a little bit of time to get back in the groove, but I felt like maybe the last few weeks we’ve lacked a little bit of direction and lacked a little bit of voice out there.

“I just wanted to bring that because I knew that was going to keep me in the game.

“I just loved being back out there.”

To hear more from Lever post-game, watch the full interview below.