The Demons recorded their first win in the Steven King era, defeating St Kilda by 13 points, led by a dominant performance from captain Max Gawn.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL Podcast, former Hawthorn midfielder Daniel Harford had some high praise for the ruckman, claiming the premiership skipper to be "the best last quarter player in the game's history".
"He's the king of the last quarter, big Maxy, and he was awesome, he really took Tom De Koning to school," Harford said.
"Max was all over him (De Koning) in that second half, in that last quarter, he was an absolute monstrosity, and was one of the absolute key reasons why they got the job done, the big fella.
"He is, I reckon, the best last quarter player in the game's history that I've seen."
Gawn was a key factor in the Demons' win over the Saints, finishing with 22 disposals, 36 hitouts and one goal, and Mark Stevens believes he is one of the most influential players in the game.
"When I go and see Max play, I've never seen a player take control of an entire game," Stevens said.
"He's like the puppet master that just makes things happen, and it was amazing what he did yesterday.
"People talk about Bont and Daicos, but Gawn has to be in the conversation as the most influential player going around."
Stevens was impressed with the new free-flowing game style that King's side showed on the weekend, with the Demons opening up the Saints on transition.
"He's got them playing free-flowing football, fun footy, and he did say it last week you're going to enjoy watching us play, and he was right," Stevens added.
"Was great scenes when he realised with a couple of minutes left that he's got the win in the bank."
Harford was impressed with key forward Jacob van Rooyen's six-goal performance, and he believes Melbourne's new style could help him going forward.
"You look at the Dees in the last five or six years since the flag, it's been a stodgy sort of movement centre forward. It's been a tough watch," Harford said.
"Demons fans out there will know exactly what I'm talking about, that mid-forward connection hasn't been there.
"With the flow of play we saw yesterday from Melbourne guys like van Rooyen, if they can get some lace out delivery like he did yesterday, some beautiful ball coming in, he's a real threat, because he's an athletic beast."
