GREATER Western Sydney has overcome Melbourne by 32 points in a dour contest at Spotless Stadium to find itself back in the AFL's top eight.
The Giants only picked up one victory for 2013, but it has taken just three rounds for them to double that tally following their 10.19 (79) to 7.5 (47) win.
Five talking points: GWS v Melbourne
Five talking points: GWS v Melbourne
The Demons got themselves in front for the first time in the match late in the third term and were still within a point early in the final quarter, but they couldn't go on with it as they lost their 12th straight game.
It is Melbourne's worst run since losing 20 in a row between 1981-82.
"When Melbourne came at us in the back end of the third quarter, for them to get in front and for us to respond, I thought was fantastic," GWS coach Leon Cameron said.
"And that led to us playing a dominant last quarter.
"As we progress, sides are going to start coming at us, and that's fantastic for our group to learn from."
Like most players Adam Treloar was guilty of some poor turnovers, but he had some moments of brilliance and his 33 touches and a goal had him shading Shane Mumford (60 hit-outs) for best-on-ground honours.
Josh Kelly continues to shine, kicking two fourth-quarter goals in just his second game to help seal the result, with Jonathon Patton and Jeremy Cameron also adding two apiece.
Nathan Jones put in a typically tireless shift for the Dees and Lynden Dunn and Jack Watts kicked two goals, but it was another poor outing for the visitors.
In a match-up of the oldest football club in the land in Melbourne and the AFL's newest, in the early stages it was more akin to two teams discovering the sport for the first time.
At half-time the Giants had kicked two goals to Melbourne's one in a terribly low standard game not helped by the weather.
One positive for the visitors was there was no danger of them suffering a repeat of last week's 93-point belting at the hands of West Coast.
But for a fair while there also seemed little threat of them kicking a goal, with their first finally arriving 20 minutes into the second term courtesy of Dunn.
A solitary Cameron goal separated the teams at the first break, with both adding one goal for the second term as the rain started to pour.
At half-time, some of the Auskickers were demonstrating nearly as much skill and goalkicking prowess as seen in the opening two terms – and that included two kids who stopped mid-game to dance as Pharrell Williams pumped through the speakers.
Thankfully for all involved, the situation improved after the main break.
Melbourne's four goals to three in the third term finally sparked the contest into life and left the result wide open heading into the fourth quarter.
Jack Viney is gang tackled by Giants. Picture: AFL Media
But from there it was all the Giants, who happily belted out the team song for just the fifth time in their history.
GWS dominated the tackle count 115-69 and owned the clearances 61-36, and Melbourne coach Paul Roos felt that, plus Mumford's effort, had been the difference.
"It was always going to be a slog with the rain," Roos said.
"At the end of the day I think the tackle numbers were 115 to 70 and clearances were minus-25 and Mummy had about 60 hit-outs.
"That was the difference in the game.
"In the end in those slippery conditions, to their credit they kept on working and we dropped off."
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 1.2 2.7 5.12 10.19 (73)
MELBOURNE 0.2 1.5 5.5 7.5 (47)
GOALS
GWS: Patton 2, Cameron 2, Kelly 2, Treloar, Mumford, Smith, Coniglio
Melbourne: Dunn 2, Watts 2, Kent, Frawley, Jones
BEST
GWS: Treloar, Mumford, Ward, Bugg, Shaw, Kelly
Melbourne: N Jones, Dunn, Vince, Cross, M Jones
INJURIES
GWS: Nil
Melbourne: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
GWS: Will Hoskin-Elliott replaced Dylan Addison in the third quarter
Melbourne: Jay Kennedy-Harris replaced Shannon Byrnes in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Chamberlain, Meredith, Ryan
Official crowd: 7016 at Spotless Stadium
