There was not much point getting attached to anything that was happening in Sunday's game between St Kilda and Melbourne. The second something started, it seemed to stop.
Melbourne kicked six goals in the first quarter. The Demons moved the ball at extreme pace, with a bit of defiance. It was as if they simply refused to let anyone even try to hold them up.
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Saints make it 14 straight over Melbourne
St Kilda defeated Melbourne for the 14th straight time, and move to within two games of the top-eight.
Then, the Saints found a way to do just that. They chased them, annoyed them, pushed them into corners, didn't let them back out.
The five goals they kicked through the second quarter felt first like a bonus, and then like a lot more.
St Kilda made the third quarter all about them. They made the Demons come running after them. They kept the ball in their half of the ground for more than three quarters of the term.
They got themselves out to a five-goal lead and that could -and should - have been the last little twist. Of course it wasn't.
The Saints missed one shot,then another, then another. They scored two goals to go with their six behinds, and they gave Melbourne an unexpected chance to sneak back in.
Jack Viney took a gutsy mark late in the third term, and finished the job with a goal. Max Gawn threaded a set shot. Jesse Hogan's shot was only just touched on the line.
They forced their way back into the game via some tiny little cracks, a contrast to the first quarter where they had taken control by running - fast - and not pausing to look around.
Where they started out by flicking the ball around - Viney had 10 handball receives for the first term, his team 57 more than the Saints - they had to fight a little bit more.
And where they began by zooming towards goal - Jayden Hunt's dash from defence was impossible to miss - they had to find other ways to hang in there.
They didn't go away. Viney was strong. Tom McDonald held onto some important marks. Challenged all day by Tom Hickey, Gawn nailed a second shot at the start of the term.
That shot got the Demons back to within a goal. They might have had the lead, had a free kick to Jesse Hogan not been reversed after he flung an elbow back.
Suddenly, it felt like they had the momentum again. Which of course meant they didn't.
Having lifted their intensity in the second quarter by chasing Melbourne, harassing them and making them worry, the Saints did the same thing again.
They backed themselves, ran, and moved the ball. They - Leigh Montagna, Jade Gresham, Jack Billings - started to find some gaps again. Mav Weller worked incredibly hard.
Early in the game, it took a while for their work to count for something. Once it did, it really did: Montagna held Dean Kent up in the pocket, and snapped a goal.
Tim Membrey found lots of room to move, and seemed to know where the goals were without having to look too hard. Josh Bruce got in on things.
Jarryn Geary kicked a rare goal. Then he kicked another, six seconds before half-time.
It took less time in the last term . Nick Riewoldt's first goal snapped Melbourne's run as soon as it started. Montagna kept moving. Jade Gresham kept coming up with new moves.
After Gawn's goal the Saints won six big intercepts in row and got more direct, kicking the ball inside 50 seven times in a row.
They made things a touch hard for themselves, with Weller, Jack Sinclair, Billings and the skipper missing shots that would have life a whole lot easier, a whole lot earlier.
But it didn't end up mattering. Weller got another goal on the board. Dylan Robertson did a Geary. Bruce scored his second and Luke Dunstan finished things off.
Their hard work finished with something that sounds much more mundane: a six goal win, their 14th in a row against a team they keep finding ways to beat.