SPORT is as much about readiness to lose as to win. Friday night one side played as if it felt a loss was due against a side that played with a manic desire to win. Yesterday was another such collision, yet the result fell differently.

Melbourne, stirred by emotion from David Neitz's retirement played with a similar intent as Collingwood, while Hawthorn, undefeated as Geelong before them, played as a side that was provoked into confusion.

Melbourne played about as well as Melbourne could play, certainly better than they have in any game this year, but fell short because it was their folly to draw Hawthorn and not one of about 14 other sides it might have beaten. It might also have fallen short on the folly of whether a tackle is deemed worthy of reward or punishment in front of goal.

Hawthorn will be content to have played poorly and won. Another side challenging it with similar levels of commitment to the Demons might have won the day, but Melbourne has not quite the depth of class to make that happen.

It begets a chicken and egg conundrum of whether Melbourne created this attitude in Hawthorn or whether the attitude was there to be exploited.

"We didn't play particularly well. Is that because we're having a little bit of a lull or was it the good form of the Demons today? I'm not too sure, but we're just happy to put it in the bank and move on," Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said. "All I know is it's tough coming up every week, but that's the same with every side in the competition."

What was beyond question was that Melbourne played with desire from the outset that suggested it was there to play in a manner it has rarely shown this year.

Neitz's send off — there was a lap of honour in the back of a car before the game and a guard of honour by both sides after the game — had a significant impact on the Melbourne players. It can be presumptuous to think such matters can influence a team across the entirety of a match but patently Melbourne performed as if to suggest that to have presented any less aggressively would have insulted Neitz's name.

"It was definitely (to do with Neitz)," midfielder Brent Moloney said. "He has been captain of the club for eight, nine years and he is a champion and it was a good test for us against Hawthorn … he was a hard man, Neita and we wanted to take a bit of that into the game and that is how we want to play every week."

Moloney had his chance early in the first quarter to reflect this intent. Having disposed of the ball he was upended late by Buddy Franklin. He immediately picked himself up and barrelled through Franklin who threw himself to ground seeking the umpire's favour. Moments later Nathan Jones charged through Franklin.

As much as these things are still measured by the flags players fly, it was the Demons who were seeking to flutter theirs. It was a flag for David Neitz as much as Brent Moloney and it was a warning flag of intent: Melbourne would not be cowed and it was there to scrap.

"Definitely, we wanted to set the tone and win the contested ball and they are a hard team and we wanted to match it with them so that was the focus," Moloney said.

Brad Green said the Neitz send-off was of significance but in some ways no more than the piteous assessment of the club midweek by Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, who queried whether Melbourne's future was on the golden sands of Queensland.

"The Neita emotion lasts for five or 10 minutes of the first quarter and then you just get into the game and away it goes. It just shows the boys were ready for this game, we have been shit-canned all week, things thrown at us that shouldn't be thrown at us and the boys have got a bit of pride and they want to fight, they don't want to flight any more, they want to fight and show a bit. And that is great," Green said.

"Our intensity, the build up for today's game being Neita's send-off game, the boys were ready and up for this and we just have to bring that intensity to every game and if we play like that we will win more than we lose. At the end of the day the boys had a crack and that is all you can ask.

"We didn't really try to play a certain way it was just that our intensity was there. 'Bails' just said all I want you to do is have a crack like the skipper would," Green added.