Although the showers turned into clear skies and a rainbow shone over the Great Southern Stand as the game wore on, there was no turnaround in the quality of the Melbourne-Western Bulldogs meeting on Sunday.
But, for the Bulldogs at least, it won't matter. They were too strong and too classy when it mattered, winning their first game of the year by 21 points and avoiding their worst start to a season since 2002.
The 13.10 (88) to 9.13 (67) victory was also the club's first under new coach Brendan McCartney, who said it was a solid learning experience for some of his younger troops.
"To come through an environment where we did a lot of things right, then we lost our way through the basics of the game, and then go through the experience of having some older wiser heads bring them back into the moment and realign them … that's really important for our footy club," he said.
Demons coach Mark Neeld said despite still being winless and anchored near the bottom of the ladder, the club was concerned more with long-term success.
"We're trying to put in some building blocks in the way we play, some standards at training, teaching basic defensive principles," Neeld said.
"That's where we're at. We're certainly looking long-term [with] all the decisions we're making."
After leading by 21 points midway through the second quarter, Melbourne rallied in the third term to get within one point. But the Bulldogs were able to respond, and held off the Demons' challenge to post their sixth consecutive win over Melbourne.
Luke Dahlhaus might have been the most influential player on the ground. He found 23 disposals, but was creative and energetic with them, setting up scoring opportunities for the Bulldogs with his deft kicks and smart touches.
Robert Murphy's run, decision-making and disposal off half-back was also important. Essentially, though, the difference was simple: the Dogs had more contributors for longer periods than the Demons. Most significantly, the Bulldogs had 93 more disposals.
It took a goal from Matthew Bate on the half-time siren to give the Demons some hope and spark.
In the tribute match to late president Jim Stynes, Melbourne reversed its trend of awful third-quarter fadeouts and hit back to kick four goals and get within one point.
But for all the better signs, they still ended the term 15 points down - the same margin of half-time. With two quick goals early in the last term, the Dogs jumped to a 29-point lead and all but sealed the win, despite some late momentum for Melbourne.
Adding to the positives in the Bulldogs' win was their ability to overcome the late withdrawal of key defender Lukas Markovic with hamstring soreness.
It left the Dogs' defence without its first four tall choices - Markovic, Dale Morris, Brian Lake and Tom Williams - but Jordan Roughead did a strong job on Demon tall Mitch Clark.
Clark loomed as a possible match winner after an imposing first quarter when he took three marks inside his attacking 50.
But the star recruit faded out of the game before leaving the field late in the third term after landing on his neck after a marking contest, and was substituted out of the game in the last quarter.
Clark was taken to hospital for scans.
MELBOURNE 1.5 3.8 7.10 9.13 (67)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.2 6.5 10.7 13.10 (88)
GOALS
Melbourne: Bate 2, Davey 2, Clark, Bail, Watts, Moloney, Morton
Western Bulldogs: Cooney 2, Grant 2, Giansiracusa 2, Griffen, Dahlhaus, Sherman, Jones, Djerrkura, Roughead, Wallis
BEST
Melbourne: Magner, Bate, Jones, Rivers, Howe
Western Bulldogs: Cross, Murphy, Dahlhaus, Cooney, Djerrkura
INJURIES
Melbourne: Clark (neck)
Western Bulldogs: Markovic (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Austin
SUBSTITUTES
Melbourne: Luke Tapscott replaced Mitch Clark at three-quarter-time.
Western Bulldogs: Shaun Higgins replaced Ayce Cordy at three-quarter-time.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Wenn, Armstrong, Bannister
Official crowd: 33,565 at the MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
