MELBOURNE fans had never seen anything like Max Gawn's third-term pummelling of a hapless Geelong in Friday night's preliminary final.

And the numbers back up the rarity of the Demon skipper's career-best quarter.

The Official AFL Player Ratings, calculated by Champion Data, record Gawn's four-goal blitz during the 'premiership quarter' against the Cats as the best individual term by any player in a final since 2010.

DEMONS v CATS Full match coverage and stats

As well as his four remarkable goals in the third quarter, Gawn had seven kicks and one handball for a total of eight possessions, six of which were contested. He also had one contested mark, two tackles, 11 hitouts and three clearances.

Champion Data credited Gawn with 16.7 ratings points for his 30-minute burst that blew the game open.

It narrowly pipped Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge's 16.4 points in the first term against Adelaide in the 2015 semi-final, which was the previous best finals quarter recorded since Champion Data began calculating the ratings for the 2010 season.

Adelaide's Paul Seedsman ranks third with his 15.9-point second quarter in the Crows' 2017 preliminary final victory against Geelong.

Gary Rohan – who underwhelmed with one disposal before going off injured against the Demons on Friday night – comes in fourth, with 15.5 points in the third quarter of Sydney's 2015 preliminary final win against North Melbourne.

As dominant as Gawn's quarter was against the Cats, it pales in comparison to the biggest single-quarter scores recorded in any game since 2010.

Jack Riewoldt's first quarter against West Coast in round 12, 2010, when he booted five of Richmond's six first-term goals en route to his first career bag of 10 majors, netted a massive 22.8 points.

Gary Ablett holds three of the top 10 single-quarter scores, all recorded while he was at Gold Coast. His 20.7-point first quarter against Adelaide in round eight, 2011 is the only other quarter to break the 20-point mark in the past 12 seasons.

Best individual quarter in a final (2010-now)

Best individual quarter in any game (2010-now)