FEWER than 20,000 fans were there, and those who were not will today be annoyed with themselves. Some will tell you they were there, regardless. But those who did attend will savour a game like few others.

To win their first game of the year is satisfaction enough; to do so after trailing by 51 points makes it sweeter.

All that could have been better was for the opponent to be Collingwood or Carlton. But then the crowd would not have been so intimate.

This was, after all, Fremantle — a side that moves its players to tears of despair.

Ryan Crowley choked on tears wondering how his club could be such a self-parody. Even by Fremantle standards this was awful — the greatest turnaround loss in the club's history.

In the second half, Melbourne was almost unrecognisable compared not just with the first half of the game but with the first six weeks of the season.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said last week that he did not know where his side's game had come from because it had not been instructed or taught. Melbourne coach Dean Bailey didn't use those words, but perhaps it was his sentiment.

It is difficult to know whether Melbourne was struggling to adapt to a handballing, run-and-carry style game plan, or whether they were just poor in the first six-and-a-half games.

Were they instructed at half-time to kick the ball longer, to run and back themselves to get the ball into the forward line faster?

Or had they been told that all along, and it took a click or a moment of clarity to instigate a momentum that spread like a rumbling bass drum.

In the first half, Melbourne played as it had done: clumsily, stagnantly. They gave the ball to those who were flatfooted, they ignored obvious targets, and handballed to teammates under pressure.

The crowd might have been small, but it was knowledgeable. Twelve minutes into the second term it generated a rumble of wry dissatisfaction.

The cause of their murmur, or ironic mirth, was that Melbourne cleared the ball from the centre. This, of itself, was not a moment of caustic criticism. It was, after all, Melbourne's first clearance of the day. The previous 14 had been Fremantle's.

Quite how or why Melbourne swung things back is difficult to quantify.

Having trailed by 51 points, the Demons started the third quarter with the first four goals, reducing the margin to 25 points.

The fourth, from Aaron Davey, came after two long kicks into the forward line from the half-back flank, through the corridor. This was ball movement of a style unseen at Melbourne most of the year.

Fremantle rallied, but scored only three behinds before Davey goaled again. This time it was a goal-of-the-year contender when he stepped inside two players, took three bounces, faked and feinted and opened the forward 50 for a goal. The Demons were charging at this point.

Fremantle's answer? To do as Fremantle always does and turn to Matthew Pavlich. He was moved on to the ball and immediately kicked two goals in a minute. This should have, and would normally have, shut Melbourne out. But this day the Demons were undeterred.

Even Dockers coach Mark Harvey was frustrated that, as ever, it was only Pavlich who announced himself as the person to stem a tide, to try to sway a game.

Some have the willingness to do so but not the talent, others have the talent but not the willingness.

"Too often we have relied on the normal guys, and today was again a classic case," Harvey said.

"Regularly Pavlich kicks five or six goals. When are we actually going to wake up and say, 'Who else is it going to be'?"

It is difficult to know whether the fact that the opponent was Fremantle gave Melbourne additional belief, for the Demons were too polite to suggest so, but there can be no doubt every side would never think themselves out of a game against them.

Demon midfielder Brock McLean said: "We got to within three goals and it was, 'Righteo, we are coming,' and (Pavlich) kicks two in a minute, and it would have been easy for the boys to say, 'Oh, here they go, it is out to five goals, this is getting too hard.'

"But we were in the game; that was the message at three-quarter time," McLean said .

"It just clicked today. I think once we saw what happens when we take risks or make decisions … it just clicked. I don't know why. Confidence is strange in footy.

"It is definitely one of the best wins I have been involved in, regardless of what the deficit was. The past six weeks have been pretty tough and when we got to eight or nine goals down it would have been easy for the boys to say this is too hard again and shut up shop and play safe footy. But we kept chipping away and got the result we wanted."

MELBOURNE 1.3 3.8 8.15 17.17 (119)
FREMANTLE 5.6 11.10 13.17 15.23 (113)
GOALS: Melbourne: Robertson 4, Wonaeamirri 4, Davey 3, Miller 3, Green 2, Moloney. Fremantle: Pavlich 5, Tarrant 3, Farmer 2, Bell, Ibbotson, Mundy, Palmer, Solomon.
BEST: Melbourne: McLean, Miller, Bruce, Wonaeamirri, Robertson, McDonald, Davey. Fremantle: Pavlich, Crowley, Palmer, Solomon, Sandilands, Dodd.
INJURIES: Melbourne: Whelan (illness) replaced in selected side by Bell. Fremantle: Headland (knee) replaced in selected side by Gilmore. McPharlin (buttock).
UMPIRES James, Stewart, Avon.
CROWD 19,423 at MCG.

THE UPSHOT
HOW is it that Melbourne waited until it was 51 points down to begin playing. Where has that second half been? Not just yesterday but for most of the first seven weeks?

TALKING POINT
AARON Davey's goal, three bounces, passing two opponents and through the middle. Magnificent.

HOT AND COLD
AUSTIN Wonaemirri's electrifying four goals had the forward line buzzing. Nathan Jones was blanketed by Ryan Crowley, with only four touches for the day.