THE issue of the week for St Kilda was hardness, and it was addressed early yesterday with a tackle count that doubled its opponents' to quarter-time. The game by that point was as good as over, and what followed simply underlined that, for the Demons of 2008, everything is hard.

Added to the list of seemingly simple tasks carrying a high degree of difficulty for Melbourne will be getting out of bed this morning, after a performance of such lamentability that any admiration earned against Hawthorn a week earlier has well and truly evaporated.

The contest was anything but memorable, but did feature several occurrences so common they could have been replays. Sadly for Melbourne, none of the monotony displayed it in a happy light.

Sam Fisher and Jason Gram roaming the back line and beyond unhindered by anything more than fleeting attention was the most frequent sight, and gave the Saints a springboard that would have inflicted more damage had Nick Riewoldt and the impressive Matthew Ferguson matched their aerial efforts in front of goal.

St Kilda comfortably won the stoppages, where Michael Gardiner played perhaps his best game in red, white and black, and was blessed to have Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball and Lenny Hayes working wonders at his feet.

From the outset, Melbourne's lack of industry in the clinches was evident, with Lynden Dunn (on Hayes) and James McDonald (on Dal Santo) both more concerned with stopping than starting attacks, although McDonald worked typically hard both ways to be his side's heaviest ball-winner.

Brock McLean was the sole Demon in the middle more focused on getting the ball than curtailing a man, with Clint Bartram also on tagging duty on Leigh Montagna. With McLean's nominal opponent the prolific Ball, there was little to cheer there, either.

The ingredients were surely better than the game's end product, Melbourne's only saving grace being that it wore a clash strip so removed from the traditional club jumper that, when the tape is dug out of the archives in another 150 years' time, it might avoid recognition.

The Demons made a mess of most that they touched, and the sight of pressured kicks skewing high in the air and landing with the opposition was the most memorable feature of their day.

When finally one of these kicks found a target, giving Colin Sylvia a goal early in the last quarter, it was only the Demons' fourth, and their first for three-quarters of an hour.

It was hard to judge where it leaves the Saints, who face a far truer test next Sunday against the Western Bulldogs, but the good outweighed the bad. While Riewoldt had one of those afternoons where he dreaded having to take a shot — he failed to make the distance from 30 metres with a horrible second-quarter shank — he ran and presented as well as ever and hauled in 13 marks.

Alongside him in the forward 50, Ferguson took four contested grabs and provided the highlight of an abysmal third quarter, launching himself over a pack at full-forward after Gram had taken four bounces through the middle of the ground. In keeping with proceedings, Ferguson could not convert.

David Armitage was good early, Clinton Jones prominent and Adam Schneider tapped home four classic crumber's goals before ruining his one-per-quarter average by marking and adding a fifth late in the game.

While a grumpy Max Hudghton was the only Saint who didn't seem to enjoy himself, the Demons had Russell Robertson looking like he didn't want to be there from the moment he kicked into Hudghton's hands from two metres after only 40 seconds. He got his wish when he sat under a hospital ball in the third term and was crunched by three Saints.

As Robertson was escorted from the ground and straight down the race, Montagna laid yet another tackle on Sylvia, the spillage ended with Schneider, and another dribbled goal resulted.

The highlight was saved until the last gasp, when, with the Demons retreating deep into defence and the Saints opting to kill the clock with "tempo football", Sean Dempster chose to buck the trend. Taking a cross-ground kick at half-back, he made an unchallenged, three-bounce run through the middle and let fly with a drop punt that carried 60 metres for St Kilda's 19th goal.

Twelve seconds later, the siren put Melbourne out of its misery. For now.

ST KILDA 5.4 10.6 12.12 19.15 (129)
MELBOURNE 2.2 3.4 3.6 7.8 (50)
GOALS — St Kilda: Schneider 5, Milne 3, Birss 2, Koschitzke 2, Dal Santo, Ball, Riewoldt, Jones, Gram, Montagna, Dempster. Melbourne: Yze 3, Dunn, Robertson, Sylvia, Bruce.
BEST — St Kilda: Dal Santo, Ball, Riewoldt, Gardiner, Hayes, Fisher, Schneider, Gram. Melbourne: Wheatley, McDonald, McLean, Bruce.
INJURIES — Melbourne: Robertson (Achilles), Bate (hand).
UMPIRES: Head, Stevic, Stewart.
CROWD: 27,854 at Telstra Dome.

THE UPSHOT
IT'S Melbourne's (150th birthday) party, and the Demons will cry if they want to. Things just keep going from bad to worse, with Russell Robertson's season-ending Achilles injury compounding yesterday's 79-point hammering. Next Saturday night's gala "celebration" could have done with a sunnier promo.

THE TALKING POINT
WHETHER the Saints have turned a corner, or simply stood on the kerb performing tricks. Next Sunday's meeting with the Western Bulldogs shapes as season-defining; one thing is certain, Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball and Lenny Hayes will not have such a clear passage at the stoppages against the Bulldog onballers.

HOT AND COLD
NICK Riewoldt gave Colin Garland more trouble yesterday than Lance Franklin had a week earlier, hauling in 13 marks and covering his usual acreage. But his kicking for goal was shonky at best, and continues to blight his all-round game.