Melbourne captain David Neitz found the perfect tonic to unify his club's supporters by kicking nine goals in the Demons' 59-point thrashing of Richmond in their round two AFL game at the MCG.

In a remarkable turnaround in both teams' fortunes from a week ago, the Demons won 20.15 (135) to 12.4 (76) as Neitz regained his Coleman Medal form of 2002 by muscling his way to 10 marks and thrashing former All-Australian fullback Darren Gaspar in the first half.

Neitz, who was noticeably rusty in last week's heavy loss to Hawthorn, became the fourth Demon after Harold Davie (1926), Bob Johnson (1927) and Fred Fanning (1947) to bag nine goals against Richmond in an equal career-best performance.

Before the game about 50 of Melbourne's former players and high-profile supporters walked onto the ground in a show of unity among the club's long-warring factions.

If those groups want to remain chummy, they should get together and watch a replay of Friday night's game, as the Demons played long and direct, constantly harassed their Richmond opponents into mistakes and displayed a far superior skill level.

Brad Green underlined the difference when he picked up a rolling ball so cleanly he could have been playing basketball and effortlessly thumped a 55-metre goal just before halftime.

Neitz, Green (three goals), half-forward Russell Robertson, midfielder Matthew Whelan and defenders Clint Bizzell and Nathan Brown were excellent throughout.

In contrast, Richmond was a shadow of the team that thrashed Collingwood on this ground exactly a week ago.

The Tigers were allowed few early opportunities to score, full-forward Matthew Richardson was barely sighted and Nathan Brown (the Tiger, not the Demon), Kane Johnson and Gaspar - three of the Tigers' key players - were all caught fumbling because of Melbourne's pressure.

Brown's three goals gave him a respectable finish, but besides him, midfielders Andrew Krakouer and Johnson and overworked defender Mark Chaffey, there was little for Tiger fans to cheer.

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