IT WAS not in the same spirit as last week's drought-breaking win against Collingwood, but Carlton would still draw plenty of positives, and a couple of negatives, from yesterday's 33-point victory over Melbourne at the MCG.

Carlton looked the real deal for all but 10 minutes of the first three quarters. Its disposal was clean, the purpose was evident, and the contribution was spread relatively evenly between the usual, or expected, suspects — Chris Judd, Brendan Fevola and Andrew Carazzo.

Marc Murphy was once again among his team's best and Matthew Kreuzer continued to show why he was such an easy choice for the Blues at pick one in last year's national draft.

Even Carlton's oft-maligned defence performed well, once again keeping its opponent to below 100 points — just the second time it has achieved this since round one last year and, not coincidentally, for the second week in a row.

Admittedly, their job was made easier by the hapless efforts of the winless Dees. Prone to dragging all of their players up outside the 50-metre arc, the Demons would often leave Russell Robertson at home. He worked hard all day for his contribution, but was never going to be enough to prove the difference between the two sides.

Yesterday's effort could mark a return to form of sorts for Robertson, who kicked 2.1 and took seven marks, three of them contested, including a classic screamer taken after climbing over the back of a pack early in the second term.

Both sides spent most of the game with a loose man in defence, but the tactic only worked for one of them. Jared Rivers, whose job it was to stand in front of Fevola when the ball came into his vicinity, did what he was asked, but there was something in the way he did it — flat-footed and entirely predictable — that rendered the ploy ineffective. Fevola managed to draw in the extra attention and still have a day out, booting seven goals.

But the real star of the game was the resurgent Judd who started the game with dangerous intent, taking a strong pack mark in the goal square from a Fevola pass to kick the first score of the day.

In the next few minutes Melbourne managed a thrust forward that resulted in a rushed behind, before Fevola found it again at the other end, this time kicking the goal himself and giving the Blues an 11-point lead after five minutes of play.

It took Melbourne more than 15 minutes to get their first major on the board, through James McDonald, though by that time Fevola had slotted another one.

Two minutes into the second quarter it looked as though the Demons found some spark. Melbourne strung together three goals in seven minutes to draw level with the Blues.

The heat in the game became glaringly evident after Brent Moloney went in too hard on Darren Pfeiffer in a contest that generated a spirited round of remonstrations between the teams.

But the show of intensity went against the Dees, and a 50-metre penalty was awarded to Pfeiffer who duly goaled. At the next centre bounce Judd turned it on again, streaming out of the contest to goal from just inside the centre square for the second of a nine-goal avalanche that lasted until the seventh minute of the final quarter to bury the Demons' chances.

The day went from bad to worse when Melbourne skipper David Neitz, who waited until the sixth minute of the second quarter to get his first touch of the ball, was wrapped up heavily in a Jarrad Waite tackle.

Neitz went off with a stiff neck and dead arm and did not return after half-time, prompting Demons coach Dean Bailey to rejig the forward line. It remains to be seen what effect the injury will have on the tailend of his career.

Fevola was making a mockery of the Demons attempts to double-team him at the other end of the ground. His seven goals came from seven kicks. He was also gifted a goal from a strike by Matthew Whelan in the third term which came immediately after Judd had goaled, giving the Blues a rare double-goal play. The hit was duly noted by umpire Justin Schmidt and will be assessed today by the match review panel.

And then there was Fevola's last goal after marking the ball on the final siren — from a pass from Judd — and he threaded it through on the boundary line outside the 50-metre arc.

Melbourne's inability to adapt to Bailey's run-and-carry game plan was glaringly obvious. Too often a Demon in possession would turn to handball, only to find that a teammate was flat-footed, covered by an opponent, or overshot the mark.

Midway through the final quarter, with the game over and the Blues packed up and ready to go home, the Demons found their way into attack for a result five more times, but by then it was over. There would be little reason for any Demon to have found heart from those late efforts.

CARLTON  3.3 10.6 12.10 15.11 (101)
MELBOURNE 1.3 4.5 4.9 9.14 (68)

GOALS Carlton: Fevola 7, Judd 3, Murphy, Kreuzer, Fisher, O'hAilpin, Pfeiffer. Melbourne: Green 4, Robertson 2, McDonald, Jones, Jamar.

BEST Carlton: Judd, Fevola, Thornton, Cloke, Murphy. Melbourne: Green, Bruce, McDonald, Robertson, McLean.

INJURIES Carlton: Gibbs (back soreness) replaced in selected side by Bentick. Melbourne: Neitz (neck).

REPORTS Whelan (Melb) for allegedly striking Fevola (Carlton) in third quarter, Thornton (Carlton) for allegedly striking Bartram (Melb) in fourth quarter.

UMPIRES Schmitt, Stevic, Stewart.

CROWD 44,159 at MCG.

With its losing streak broken, Carlton is looking much-improved. It controlled the game easily, though conceding five easy goals in the last term shows there is still work to do.

THE UPSHOT

TALKING POINT Chris Judd. His second goal was vintage — bursting out of the centre to drill it through from at least 60 metres — and showed that if the Blues' skipper is not back to his best, then he is frighteningly close.

HOT AND COLD It was a tale of two skippers. While Judd was superb, with 26 disposals, six clearances and three goals, it was a dog of a day for David Neitz, who managed just one touch of the ball before injuring his neck late in the second quarter.