THE STAGE was set for one of the hottest contests of the year.

And Monday’s top-four clash between Melbourne and Collingwood didn’t disappoint.

The highly anticipated King’s Birthday match saw the two teams battle it out in front of 83,578 fans, with the game going right down to the wire.

When the final siren sounded, the Demons were triumphant, defeating the Pies by a narrow four points.

Senior coach Simon Goodwin said his team’s victory was spurred on by their early preparations, knowing they’d be up for a tough fight against the ladder-leaders.

“We spoke about that during the week, how impressive they’ve been,” Goodwin said.

“We knew what we were walking into…our boys were well prepared, and they took it up to them.

"Our defensive system, we've worked really hard on what that looks like against these types of teams.

“We're not the finished product by any stretch, but we defend in a certain way, we've had to tinker with some things along the way, but it's all about how we get better.”

From the first bounce, the Demons were on the back foot early, trailing for the duration of the first half.

The Pies, however, were unable to match the pressure of the home side during the third quarter with Melbourne taking the lead and the momentum into the final term. 

And despite only converting on eight of its 26 shots at goal, Melbourne was able to shake off its inaccuracy to prevail.

"That's the character you want to build within your footy team, it's the resilience you want to see. It wasn't our best start to a game. It looked like a Collingwood game early,” Goodwin said.

"There were a lot of missed opportunities for us, we had our chances to kick a pretty big score.

"To deal with that disappointment is stuff we've been working on, that performance mindset about how we deal with mistakes, how we move forward and how we stay in the now and be really present.

“I thought our boys moved on from all those mistakes and opportunities that we coughed up, and we were still really strong by the end of the game."

While the game lived up to its blockbuster name, more importantly, it saw the league rally around Melbourne great Neale Daniher and FightMND.

The Australian community raised over $2M for FightMND, with a standing ovation for Daniher the memorable pre-game moment.

“It is unbelievable what he’s been able to do, for the community, for MND, for the fight he's taken up,” Goodwin said.

“We’ve been in a really fortunate position as a footy club to listen to those lessons over the last nine years.

“Nine years he’s been doing this, and he’s raised over $70M for the fight and it’s just such an incredible thing he’s done.

“He’s such an inspiration particularly to the Demon faithful, he’s given our club so much.”