IN the process of building anything, invariably there will be challenges along the way.

They may be small setbacks. They could be bigger obstacles.

In those testing moments, small wins or gains can still occur, even if things don’t always go as planned – such as Melbourne’s case on Saturday. 

The strong expectation by many was that Melbourne would end its 12-match losing streak against St Kilda.

The rationale was that Melbourne had narrowly gone down to the undefeated North Melbourne in round three and then won strongly against Collingwood and Richmond respectively. 

St Kilda had one win for the season, and while it had displayed some excellent form against Hawthorn in Launceston, it had also suffered some big losses, albeit against the impressive Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney, both fourth and fifth on the ladder after six rounds. 

That didn’t mean Melbourne took St Kilda lightly, as Jesse Hogan explained. It was just the natural weight of expectation leaning towards the red and blue – something it hadn’t dealt with much in recent times, but obviously needs to address as improvement comes.

“We didn’t underestimate St Kilda at all,” Hogan said.

“They’d only won the one game, but we knew they were a quality side and similar to us in building that young list and playing that good brand of football. 

“We came out knowing what they were going to throw at us, and to see what we put out was really disappointing.”

But perhaps more than ever, the competition is so tight that any team can win on any given day and can’t be discounted in 2016.

And so St Kilda played outstanding football to keep its unbroken stretch alive against Melbourne with its 13^th win in a row, which dates back to the 2006 second elimination final – the red and blue’s most recent finals win and victory over the Saints.

The likes of superstar Nick Riewoldt (24 disposals, 14 marks and 3.2), underrated youngster Blake Acres (28 touches) and forward Tim Membrey (a career-best five goals) all played key roles in St Kilda.

The reality for Melbourne was that it was never going to be an easy contest, as coach Paul Roos said post-match.

“Us and St Kilda are in really similar phases of our development. We’re both trying to do similar things. They had a really good game two weeks ago and weren’t as good against the Giants [last week],” Roos said.

“We’ve had three really good weeks. I didn’t sense [complacency] during the week and even during the game there was a willingness to try and dig in.

“At times, it looked like we were going to get back into it. I don’t think it was a lack of effort, it was more we just couldn’t get our structures right and they played really well.”

Roos expanded further on the evenness of Melbourne and St Kilda. 

“Going into this game, you know where St Kilda is at. The win/losses have been pretty similar in the last couple of years. We got one more than them last year and it was equal the year before [in 2014],” he said.

“The draft picks have been similar [and both clubs have recently had] early picks, so there are a lot of similarities between the two teams.

“If you look at St Kilda, they rested [Paddy] McCartin. Those things are similar to both two teams, [but] if we rested three players, would it make any difference [in the result]? Not [on this occasion].”

The frustration of not making it three in a row or ending the 10-year streak was offset – somewhat – by several positives that would never have been envisaged by a Melbourne team in recent times, when you consider the following:

• Melbourne notched up its fourth consecutive score of 15 goals or more for the first time since 2006 (back then it defeated St Kilda, Collingwood, Essendon and Port Adelaide from rounds 10 to 13).

• Hogan booted a career-best seven goals – the first Melbourne player since Russell Robertson did on Queen’s Birthday in 1997.He also became the first Melbourne player since David Neitz to land seven majors in a losing side. Neitz did that against the Bulldogs in round four, 1997.

• Jack Viney continued his outstanding start to the season with another 30 disposals. It was also the first time he has claimed 30 touches or more in three successive matches.

• Melbourne unleashed its fourth AFL debutant – Christian Petracca – for the season and its sixth new player in 2016.

• And if the overall object of the game is to climb up the ladder, well, Melbourne did that this round, moving to ninth – just one spot outside of the top eight. It hasn’t been ninth since its round one win over Greater Western Sydney at the MCG, having hovered in 10^th position for the past three rounds.

Those were just some of the small wins to come from a loss – and given the club has a 3-3 win/loss record after six rounds – its best effort since 2011, it’s an encouraging start for one of the youngest and least experienced lists in the competition. For the record, the Saints had the clear edge in age (25 years, 132 days to 24 years, 88 days), games (2100 to 1651) and goals (1353 to 954) on the weekend.

Not surprisingly, it was best left to Roos to sum up Melbourne’s weight of expectation, performance and hope.

“We’re excited that Melbourne fans are getting excited about the game. We nearly cracked 100 points, playing, what we think was pretty poor and Hogan kicked seven,” he said.

“The talent level is improving, so we’re able to stay in games when we’re not playing well – Jack Viney ends up with 30 [disposals] and Hoges kicks seven … because our talent level has improved.

“But overall, we’re disappointed with how we played, because we rely on 18 players on the ground playing really well together. We just didn’t have that [this round].”

That will happen in this journey.