MELBOURNE 3.1 6.6 10.8 15.9 (99)
WEST COAST 2.5 5.7 11.10 14.12 (96)
Goals: Melbourne: T McDonald 5, Neal-Bullen 2, Stretch, Pedersen, Petracca, Harmes, Melksham, Viney, Hannan, Bugg. West Coast: Pet4, McGovern 3, Hill 2, Hutchings 2, Gaff, Sheed, Karpany.
Best: Melbourne: Viney, T McDonald, Tyson, Vince, Gawn, Oliver. West Coast: Petrie, McGovern, Sheed, Hutchings, Sheppard, Mitchell
Umpires: Brett Rosebury, Andrew Mitchell, Andrew Stephens.
Crowd: 36,622 at Domain Stadium.
Surely Melbourne supporters can now start to dream about September action.
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Demons' epic finish breaks western drought
Melbourne continued their push for the top four with a thrilling late win over the Eagles.
The Demons beat West Coast by three points on Saturday night to break a 17-game losing streak at Domain Stadium.
It's the first time in 11 years that they have been able to string together four victories in a row.
Five goals from regular defender Tom McDonald, including the match winner with 24 seconds to go, got the Demons over the line.
They move to 8-5 and are in fifth place on the ladder, going stride for stride with the top teams in the competition.
They add Saturday's win in Perth to round eight's victory over the Crows at Adelaide Oval. With a win over the Gold Coast in Darwin in round 10, they are also the only side to be unbeaten interstate this season.
The Demons are the real deal, and they beat West Coast without Nathan Jones, Jack Watts and Jesse Hogan – who are all due back in the coming weeks.
Jack Viney filled the void left by injured captain Jones with 38 possessions, nine clearances and a goal.
With McDonald in attack, they were able to find avenues to goal.
But late in the final term it looked as though the Eagles' marking power in attack was going to take its toll. Drew Petrie (four goals) and Jeremy McGovern (two) looked likely to carry to Eagles to another home victory.
Dom Sheed (21 possessions), Andew Gaff (27) and Sam Mitchell (27) were all running out the game strongly. West Coast had led by 16 points at the 17-minute mark of the final term when Lewis Jetta missed a set shot.
Even though he'd missed, the Eagles had kicked the two previous goals and looked to be running out the game the better.
An AC injury to Viney early in the third term had looked to have sunk the Demons' chances.
Viney was clearly the best player on the ground in the opening half, with 23 touches, a goal and five clearances. His efforts saw the Demons in front by five points at half-time.
A big hit from Eagles captain Shannon Hurn took its toll on Viney's shoulder and he was forced from the ground and into the changerooms.
He returned, but the momentum, particularly in contested football, where Melbourne had done so well early, had swung.
Consecutive goals from McDonald and another from Alex Neal-Bullen saw Melbourne kick away to an 11-point lead though.
It didn't help that Christian Salem was sidelined for the second half with a hamstring injury and Jeff Garlett was clearly carrying a similar problem (four possessions and no score).
The return of Max Gawn will give Melbourne plenty of hope going into the second half of the season too. The big ruckman has been missing since round three because of a hamstring injury.
The Demons had won hit-outs against St Kilda and Carlton in the opening two rounds when Gawn was on the field, but did not finish in front in that statistic again until Saturday night (55-41).
By half-time, Gawn had 20 hit-outs, 11 of them to the advantage of his midfielders, and didn't they love it. He finished with 15 touches and 42 hit-outs.
Melbourne led the clearances 24-19 after two quarters, with Viney, Christian Petracca (four), Clayton Oliver (three) and Jordan Lewis (three) clearly happy that Gawn was back.
Melbourne's finals hopes get another big test on Friday night when they host Sydney at MCG, while West Coast will need to win in Melbourne, against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, to get back on track.
Votes
J Viney (Melb) 9
D Petrie (WC) 8
T McDonald (Melb) 9
J McGovern (WC) 8
B Vince (Melb) 7