There were some anxious moments along the way, but St Kilda have recorded their first consecutive victories for more than two years with a 34-point win over Fremantle at Etihad Stadium.
The Saints got out to an early 27-point lead before conceding 10 of the next 12 goals to trail by as much as 19 points before an eight-goals-to-nothing final quarter gave them a comfortable win.
It is the first time St Kilda have won two games in succession since the opening two rounds of the 2014 season.
Coach Alan Richardson praised his team's hardness at the contest and the ball carrier, the Saints racking up 101 tackles for the match. Onballer David Armitage led the way with 17 on his own.
"For every three possessions they had, we tackled them. So that was so pleasing from a team point of view," Richardson said. "It wasn't just eight goals [in the last quarter] on the back of really aggressive offensive footy, it was underpinned by really, really high pressure footy and that was pleasing.
"I think that Dave [Armitage] was able to curb [Lachie] Neale's influence, who has just been outstanding, he's one of the most in-form players of the competition at the minute, that was really pleasing that one of our leaders stood up."
St Kilda still trailed by 13 points at the final change, but levelled the scores within five minutes of the restart, and with Armitage, Jack Steven, skipper Nick Riewoldt and Paddy McCartin putting in big final terms, ran away with the game in the finish.
"I was really pleased fundamentally because we did it the right way," Richardson said.
"We were able to lock it down and then from a position where we got control again, through our effort and our energy and our physicality – 21 tackles in the last when you're supposed to get a bit weary, you're not supposed to have 100 tackles on this deck – and then we went forward really aggressively. That's what I liked."
Richardson had some pointed words to his players at the half-time break. "That was frustrating, but the great thing about us having the conversation at half-time, as opposed to the end of the game, we can do something about it."
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon didn't hold back on his players, either, with a very animated address to the Dockers at the quarter-time huddle, despite the fact they had worked their way back within 16 points.
"The first quarter was terrible," Lyon said. "We weren't hunting the ball and tackling so I got them in a circle at quarter-time, put them in their divisions and just said: 'We're not accepting it as a football club ... we need to dig in'. They were pretty simple messages.
"Clearly some right things were mentioned and clearly they listened ... we really responded."
Only one other team in league history – Footscray in 1939 – have lost their first 10 matches after finishing in the top four the previous season. But the Dockers get their best chance to break their duck next Saturday when they play Essendon in Perth.
