An inspired Melbourne put a massive dent in the Western Bulldogs' dwindling finals chances with an upset 19.15 (129) to 12.15 (87) victory to celebrate Jeff White's 250th AFL match at Telstra Dome.

The Demons' surprise win was the second major upset of the round, after bottom-placed Richmond downed Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.

It was just the Demons' fourth win of the year, but second in six games under caretaker coach Mark Riley, who oversaw a victory over Carlton in his first game in charge, before guiding the team to four straight big losses.

Melbourne looked the better team from the start, kicking three of the first four goals, two of them coming to makeshift tall forward Ben Holland, who finished the night with four majors in a fine performance.

Hard-working midfielder Nathan Jones had a strong first quarter to help his side get on top, but it was not until late in the second quarter that the Demons took control of the match.

After leading by five points 10 minutes into the second quarter, they broke the game open by kicking the final four goals of the first half, including two in time-on to Aaron Davey.

Up by 28 points at the long break, they buried any chance of a Bulldogs revival by piling on six consecutive goals in an 18-minute stretch from early in the third term to push their lead out to 59 points.

Classy midfielders Travis Johnstone and Brad Green were instrumental in the game-breaking surge, while milestone man White was a solid contributor in the ruck.

Riley said the performance was a fitting way to honour White.

"I was as pleased as punch for our team, I was as pleased as punch for everyone involved in the Melbourne footy club, the supporters, it's been a long arduous year, but not at one stage have we dropped our bundle and fractured internally, which was a great sign," Riley said.

"And I was really pleased for Jeff White, because I've known him since he was a young man and I think that's how you honour your champions, with an effort like that."

He said there were some important roles played by senior players, as well as valuable experience gained by youngsters such as first-gamer Jace Bode, while he said Jones' performance was outstanding.

He said the consistent tackling and chasing was particularly pleasing.

"We've shown signs of it over the last couple of weeks ... but I thought tonight we got the hamburger with the lot, we got a full package," he said.

For the Bulldogs, who started the round out of the top eight only on percentage, it was a terrible result, with the loss their third big defeat in four rounds, broken up only by last Friday night's draw against St Kilda.

It was made worse by the loss of veteran key defender Chris Grant with a suspected knee injury 10 minutes into the match.

That came after skipper Brad Johnson was a late pre-game withdrawal with a hamstring injury, robbing the Bulldogs of class and experience at both ends of the ground, with both losses sorely felt.

Bulldogs midfielders Daniel Cross, Adam Cooney, Matthew Boyd and Scott West worked hard, but the 'Dogs generally failed to make the most of their chances when they went forward.

Half-forward Shaun Higgins booted five goals and Robert Murphy worked hard to provide a target and kicked three, but the Bulldogs had few other avenues to goal and missed plenty of gettable shots.

Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was scathing of his charges, saying they did not run hard enough and their skills were poor.

"As a club we've got to be better than what we are mentally, going in as favourites we tend to struggle, we're okay as an underdog, but we've got to be better than that, the performance tonight just wasn't acceptable," Eade said.

He said Grant, possibly in his last season, had injured cartilage in his knee and was likely to miss at least two games, as would midfielder Daniel Giansiracusa, with a shoulder injury.

Eade indicated he would try to freshen up the side by adding more young players, with an eye to the future, saying youngsters Andrejs Everitt, Tom Williams and Higgins had performed reasonably well.

"We need to have a revamp and a rethink on some individuals in our team ... the kids are doing okay, so the indications are there, perhaps we better get some more kids in," he said.

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