SAM Fisher played on Jonathan Brown in round nine, and was "touched up". He has been sent on to a rampaging Richo, and in the ongoing absence of Matt Maguire, is often asked to slay the monsters on the opposition forward line.

Yesterday, he played on one of his less taxing opponents — no one. As you would expect, "no one" didn't exert as much influence on the game as Fisher, who had 27 possessions, 22 of them uncontested.

Fisher had been, in his words, "sick as a dog" when he was thrown to the Lions on Brown. Yesterday, he might have been afflicted with something more serious — the Ebola virus, perhaps — since no one went near him. No one was his opponent for most of the game. No one was searching for Sammy Fisher. Melbourne lost that chess game.

Only slightly less contagious than Fisher was his teammate and fellow running half-back Jason Gram, whom the opposition has tagged with a defensive forward on occasion this year. Yesterday was not one of those occasions. Gram, like Fisher, was a lonely figure at Telstra Dome, left unattended in the St Kilda defence for lengthy periods. In the first quarter, Gram and Fisher had an aggregate of 22 possessions, with Gram receiving handballs nine times in that first quarter alone. Nine handball receives is a day's work for a capable ball carrier.

Theoretically, Gram and Fisher had opponents, who chose to chase the ball upfield and leave them behind to accept the turnovers from the flailing feet of Melbourne midfielders. Gram was matched to Brad Miller in that first quarter. Clearly, Gram didn't feel the need to follow Miller, who had six touches in that first quarter, but never touched Gram.

Fisher said he was "on quite a few people" yesterday. Fortunately for him, he wasn't required to name them. Colin Sylvia, we believe, was one of the alleged match-ups, and Matthew Bate was seen standing next to Fisher at the opening bounce. Others were in his vicinity at different stages. Fisher revealed there was a plan "to try and release" him — that is, set him loose. "But uhm, yeah, I had a number of different opponents. But I dunno, it's good when you don't have to play on someone."

So Fisher virtually acknowledged that his opponent, indeed, was the elusive no one. The Saints had found the right match-up for their rebounding tall back. "If you're not playing on anyone, it sort of makes it a bit easier to get a bit of the ball," said Fisher, a considerable understatement.

Fisher said he and Gram were "holding" their positions while their Demon opponents were "pushing up the ground". What he did not say was that the Demons butchered the ball, and kicked it straight to him and Gram. Gram, he said, was a barometer for the Saints. "When he gets a lot of it, we usually play pretty well."

Asked to explain the acres afforded Gram and Fisher (Brendon Goddard wasn't tightly manned either), Melbourne coach Dean Bailey put it down to poor ball use.

"Our forwards were up the ground, trying to lead and mark the ball," said Bailey. "Our kicking in the forward line was really poor, and that meant I think that on different occasions certainly Gram and Fisher were almost on their own 35 metres out from goal .… their opponents were offering options up the field and we just couldn't find them."

While Fisher loves the role of quarterback, he suggested he gains greater satisfaction from actually competing against a forward. "There's nothing better than going out to play on someone, if they're a good forward, and going out and beating them. I do like playing that role the best … but I'm happy to play the looser role."

He should be happy, but not fully satisfied. That's pretty much the scenario for St Kilda, too. Although, like Fisher, the Saints had a better game than the sickness of round nine and took a step forward, they didn't really have an opponent, either.