After a heart-wrenching loss to Fremantle in round one, Melbourne have nabbed their first win of the season over a disappointing Collingwood side that failed to snare a goal until late in the final quarter.

With over 7000 keenly watching from the well-populated terraces and bleachers of Victoria Park, Collingwood attempted to subdue Melbourne’s dash from the opening siren, with blustering winds aiding their cause.

Just last week, Melbourne and Fremantle ran each other stupid in bakingly hot conditions. Today, Melbourne’s leash on the wings and flanks had been tightened – thus, the two sides clobber into each other in the clinches for much of the first half.

Ash Brazill, however, will not be confined. Melbourne’s class is clear when the ball flies free of congestion, yet as they fly inside fifty it is often Brazill who snags the football and dashes the other way, neon-orange boots a blur. But for all her pizazz, the Pies had just two behinds until late into the last quarter.

The wind traps the football in dead pockets and tightens congestion until, eventually, O’Dea snapped a footy out of congestion and for all of Melbourne’s attempts to establish a flowing run, it is an opportunistic punt that hands Melbourne their first.

It is only moments later when Lauren Pearce snatches a chest mark from Tyla Hanks’ spearing drop punt and doubles the goal tally.

Collingwood held and denied but their deficit was 14 points at the half. Brazill’s half-back flashiness their highlight, but her Pies lack too much in their midfield and forward line. Melbourne’s O’Dea had 18 disposals and a goal, leading a powerful midfield on a romp.

The third started with Tegan Cunningham taking to the air better than Qantas ever will, a tattooed wing tearing through the skies.

Opposed to undersized debutantKatie Lynch, Cunningham’s aerial prowess allows a ping at goal for Kate Hore, but her set shot slid right. Collingwood, however, embed the pigskin in their forward fifty, rolling into a myriad of stoppages before Harriet Cordner galloped out of the back pocket and allayed Melbourne’s stress.

Lauren Pearce should have had two at the third quarter’s end after Erica Fowler edged over the mark, but Melbourne’s ruck handpasses on the siren before the mark is set.

A point is added to the lead and Collingwood look unable to even somewhat close the deficit.

Brazill’s deployment into a struggling midfield leads directly to a Collingwood inside 50 – picked off Ainslie Kemp. She and Shelley Scott hold off early Collingwood charges before the Demons launch one of their own – Hanks with her first goal of her career ices the match.

Brazill’s dazzling debut on royal Collingwood ground is not yet complete. She tears down a brilliant contested mark, runs onward and launches the ball forward.

Sarah Dargan’s ensuing toe-poke is Collingwood’s only goal but is greeted with the loudest bellow. Steph Choicci fires up when she is bludgeoned in a marking contest – but her shot is left. Melbourne dash forward – Brazill is always there in the goalsquare.

Victoria Park’s siren sounds with an unpopular vehement Collingwood defeat, with the Pies’ final score of 1.3 (9) their equal lowest of their AFLW career. There are little positives for a Magpie side completely bullied and shanghaied by a much stronger, much more efficient Melbourne outfit.

Mick Stinear’s mood was buoyant, lauding his side’s ability to rebound off a tough loss in sweltering heat just six days beforehand.

“The girls were brilliant…to only let the opposition score one goal, I was really pleased with the group.”

The following presser is illuminating. Wayne Siekmann and Steph Choicci, glum in media polos, speak of youth, of growth. The mood is downcast. Siekmann commends his backline for the pressure they absorbed. Emma Grant injured her shoulder in the second quarter – her coach laments the loss of his vocal vice-captain. Choicci is asked about her sides’ record-equalling low score – “I couldn’t care less, to be honest,” is her frank answer.

She leaves the conference in a flurry. “We’re alright,” she says. “We’re young.”

Amid the heaving, departing crowd, I spy a pair of young girls running from the grandstand, out of the terraces, out the gates. They are both adorned in Collingwood black and white. I see hundreds of kids like them, and their mums, and their dads.

The Twittering consensus that blares incessantly from my phone is a game lacking score and entertainment.

But the memory for the kids in scratchy beanies and their parents’ scarves is Ash Brazill, screaming down a wing, running with the football. The memory is the crowd’s voices lifting with her.

They are out there now, kick-to-kick on Victoria Park. They will not be denied.