MATT Burgan looks at the talking points, facts and moments from Melbourne’s 39-point loss against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday …

1 – Unlucky 13

So the streak continues. Melbourne still hasn’t beaten St Kilda since its most recent finals win – the second elimination final in 2006, some 13 matches ago. That was back when Neale Daniher was coach and St Kilda’s Grant Thomas was at the helm for the last time. For the record, captain Nathan Jones was the only Melbourne player to feature in that game and this round; St Kilda had three players: Sam Fisher, Leigh Montagna and Nick Riewoldt. Although Melbourne defeated St Kilda by 24 points at Etihad Stadium in the third and final NAB Challenge match this year, it wasn’t able to back it up this time around. Instead, St Kilda inflicted a 39-point win. The quirk of the fixture sees Melbourne take on the Saints at Docklands again in round 17. Will that be the drought breaker? Stay tuned …

2 – Ledger even

No doubt Saturday was a disappointing day for Melbourne, given the anticipation and expectation entering the match, but a 3-3 win/loss ratio remains Melbourne’s best start to a season since 2011. But it must be noted, five years ago, the red and blue had three wins, two losses and a draw.

3 – High scoring continues

For the fourth consecutive match, Melbourne booted 15 goals or more. In order, it has kicked 20.11 (131) against North Melbourne, 16.6 (102) against Collingwood, 20.9 (129) against Richmond and 15.6 (96) against St Kilda. The last time, Melbourne booted 15 goals or more in four successive matches was rounds 10 to 13, 2006, when it defeated St Kilda, Collingwood, Essendon and Port Adelaide respectively.

4 – Bookends good, middle not so …

St Kilda kicked 14 goals to six in the second and third terms, which was the catalyst for its victory. This came after Melbourne started positively with 5.3 to 3.4 in the first term and an 11-point lead at quarter-time. In fact, Melbourne led by 17 points at the 25-minute mark of the opening term when Sam Frost landed his second goal. In the final term, Melbourne booted 4.1 to 3.4, but it was too late. It was a wasted opportunity after a good start.

5 – Hogan’s career-best haul

Jesse Hogan was undisputedly Melbourne’s best player. He kicked a career-best seven goals and was outstanding in a losing side. It eclipsed his previous best of five goals, which was also against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, in round 11 last year, when the Saints won by two points. Hogan finished with 16 disposals, including 12 contested and eight marks, including five contested.

6 – Viney notches another PB

For the third match in a row, Jack Viney accumulated 30 disposals or more. He had 30 against the Saints, on the back of his 31 against Collingwood and his career-best 37 against Richmond. It continued an outstanding season by the 22-year-old.

7 – Roos pleased with Petracca's debut

Christian Petracca, the second player selected in the 2014 NAB AFL Draft, made his long-awaited AFL debut against St Kilda, notching up 16 touches, laying five tackles and having three scoring assists. Coach Paul Roos said he was pleased with the 20-year-old’s first hit-out. “It was good. It was similar to what we thought. It’s a lot easier to play your first game in a team that plays well, but I thought he impacted in the contest at times. He created some goals and got involved. There were some turnovers and a couple of fumbles, but first up in a team that didn’t play very well, I thought he had an impact as we thought he would and as we hoped he would.”

8 – Saint Nick still a superstar

In his 304^th game, Nick Riewoldt reinforced why he is one of the AFL’s greats. The 33-year-old had 24 disposals, 14 marks, seven inside 50s and kicked 3.2. He also had three scoring assists. It was one of the highlights watching one of the great forwards and one of the game’s most promising in the match. As it turned out, Hogan just pipped Riewoldt in Champion Data player rankings: 139 to 137. But it was Riewoldt who got the points that mattered on the day.

9 – What the coach says …

“We just couldn’t get our game going. I felt even when we were in front in the first quarter we weren't playing the way we wanted to play. It was a pretty open game. We got beaten around [the contested] ball and that opens up a lot of your other flaws in your game.” – Paul Roos

10 – Hello Queensland!

Melbourne will play its first home and away match in Queensland since round 20, 2013, when it went down to Gold Coast Suns by 13 points. Plenty has happened since that match for Melbourne, with 10 of those 22 players who represented the red and blue no longer at the club. Melbourne hasn’t played the Suns since its stirring round one win at the MCG last year. It will be a great opportunity for Melbourne to bounce back, but the Suns will be desperate after going down by more than 100 points to Geelong.