ON FRIDAY, ahead of his side's clash with the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin adopted a line from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street to describe the hype around his side.

"It's fugazi," he said. "Which means it's noise."

In terms of some of the bigger games the Dees will be playing this season, their 49-point win over the Dogs was no blockbuster. It didn't contain much of Melbourne's usual flair.

But with its most recognised faces playing starring roles, and a strong supporting cast, the Demons notched their sixth-straight win, overcoming a plucky Dogs outfit to run out 15.10 (100) to 7.9 (51) victors.

DEES DOMINATE DOGS Full match coverage and stats

And with it, the noise around the Dees continues to grow like that of a star actor as he approaches awards season. There is a buzz about Goodwin's men, whose winning streak is the club's longest since 2006.

Not that the script was without a twist. That came early for the Demons, who lost key defender Jake Lever to a knee injury in the first term. The high-profile recruit, who had a knee reconstruction at the end of 2013 and missed his whole draft year, appeared to twist his left knee and sat out the rest of the game.

The club expects scans to confirm Lever will miss the rest of the season with another ACL tear.

The Demons remained organised after Lever's injury, but if there was a team you would choose to lose one of your key backs against, it's probably the Dogs, who have averaged fewer than six goals in their past three games – all heavy defeats.

DOGS END DEES' STREAK Five talking points

Angus Brayshaw backed up his brilliant three-goal effort last week with career-best figures, picking up 39 disposals and a goal, while Clayton Oliver (37 disposals), Alex Neal-Bullen (25 and a goal) and Jesse Hogan (five goals) also dominated. Hogan's forward partner Tom McDonald was also outstanding with four goals from 24 disposals and 11 marks.

"It probably wasn't the natural way we win games of footy, to get beaten at clearance by 20, so we had to find a different way to win this week and to the boys' credit, we adapted really strongly," Goodwin said post-game.

"We were very strong around the contested footy still, so I was really pleased we found a way to adapt and still get a really strong result.

"There were some terrific performances throughout the side that indicated we were able to adapt and it's a sign of maturity, really."

The Dogs dominated the early stages, getting 17 points ahead when Marcus Bontempelli spun out of a pack and snapped a goal eight minutes into the contest.

"There's some [positives] there, mostly in the first part of the game," Dogs coach Luke Beveridge said.

"We went in with a good plan and got off to a good start and then our ball use was really marginal and disappointing and allowed them to rebound."

But Melbourne adjusted on the run to the Bulldogs' pressure and kicked the next two, including a major to co-captain and 250-gamer Nathan Jones.

They trailed by eight points at the first change and had the game on an even keel, however the slow start ended their run of 18 straight quarters that the Demons had won in the previous four games (keeping Geelong's all-time record of 21 straight quarters won intact).

They won the next term convincingly, though, turning their deficit into a 16-point lead by half-time. Brayshaw lifted to continue his run of outstanding form, Oliver was central to things, Max Gawn's tackling complemented his ruck dominance and Hogan kicked two goals for the quarter.

Melbourne kicked three of the first four goals in the third term to all but end the contest, stretching the lead to 29 points by the final break.

The Dogs' effort was there but the execution was not, with some costly turnovers coming as Melbourne ramped up its attack.

One precise piece of play, started by an inboard kick from Jake Melksham to Brayshaw, who then quickly kicked long to an unmarked Hogan who strolled into goal, epitomised the separation between the sides.

In fact, it was a chasm, which opened further as the Dees cruised to the win in the final term and kept the Dogs to a single goal for the final quarter. It relegates Luke Beveridge's men to four wins from 11 outings and staring down the likelihood of missing the finals for the second straight year since their 2016 flag.

And as for the fugazi? Well, that's not going away any time soon.  

MEDICAL ROOM
Western Bulldogs: Tory Dickson suffered a hamstring injury in the opening quarter and was ruled out of the rest of the game.

Melbourne: The Dees lost defender Jake Lever to a knee injury in the first term and did not reappear with the club likely to lose him for the rest of the season. Jake Melksham also had a first-term complaint after hurting his ankle, but he returned and played out the game and had a good impact with 15 disposals. 

NEXT UP
The Dogs have the bye next week and will return to the field the following Thursday night against Port Adelaide in round 13. Melbourne faces Collingwood in its annual Queen's Birthday clash next Monday at the MCG.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.3       4.6       6.8       7.9 (51)
MELBOURNE              2.1       7.4       11.7     15.10 (100) 

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli 2, Honeychurch, Schache, Gowers, Roughead, Suckling
Melbourne: Hogan 5, T.McDonald 4, Jones, Neal-Bullen, Petracca, Fritsch, Hannan, Brayshaw

BEST 
Western Bulldogs: Suckling, Bontempelli, Macrae, Hunter, Morris 
Melbourne: Brayshaw, Hogan, T.McDonald, Oliver, Jetta, Hibberd, Gawn                                      

INJURIES 
Western Bulldogs: Dickson (hamstring)
Melbourne: Lever (knee), Melksham (ankle), Smith (neck)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Chamberlain, Hay, Wallace 

Official crowd: 28,485 at Etihad Stadium

More to come.