AFTER Hawthorn piled on nine unanswered goals against Collingwood in round 16, 2009, then Magpies coach Mick Malthouse had a simple message for his players: great teams don't concede such runs.
Great players, he said, lifted when the situation demanded they do so to halt the opposition's momentum.
On opening round evidence, Hawthorn and Fremantle, both of whom conceded no more than two consecutive goals in round one, have those players.
That would be little surprise to anyone.
That Port Adelaide do too is hardly news either.
Although they conceded four unanswered goals to Fremantle in the gripping contest at Domain Stadium on Sunday night, Travis Boak, Hamish Hartlett, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines are on their way to responding rather than becoming despondent when the heat is on.
The numbers tell a story.
Hawthorn conceded five goals unanswered only four times in 2014; the Sydney Swans and Fremantle did so five times and Port Adelaide just three times.
North Melbourne, by contrast, conceded five unanswered goals or more on 10 occasions in 2014 despite making a preliminary final. It did the same in 2013.
The Kangaroos' centre square leaders in Andrew Swallow, Nick Dal Santo, Daniel Wells, Ben Cunnington and Jack Ziebell are yet to show they can stem the flow, as great players in great teams do when the opposition lifts its intensity.
Adelaide kicked 10 in a row between the 19-minute mark of the first quarter and the 27-minute mark of the second quarter to put the game beyond North Melbourne's reach.
North Melbourne conceded the opening four goals in round one, 2014, against Essendon and conceded six straight goals after half-time against Collingwood in round one, 2013.
There is no need to panic, but North Melbourne's 77-point loss puts history against it as it aims to reach finals.
No team has lost the opening round by more than 10 goals and made the finals since both Geelong and Essendon did so in 2004.
Seventeen teams have lost by that margin or more in round one since then.
Adelaide showed it has plenty to learn, too.
After its brilliant 10-goal burst it then conceded the next six straight goals to North.
Great teams, which Adelaide aspires to be, don't let that happen too often.
It's no wonder that after the game new coach Phil Walsh wanted to focus on the four centre bounces immediately after half-time that cost Adelaide goals rather than bask in the glory of a 77-point win.
"I was very disappointed with those four centre bounces," Walsh said.
"We've got work to do. I didn't like what I saw at the start of the third quarter and it is really easy for that to creep into other parts of games as well."
He knows great teams never give the opposition a sniff, particularly in round one.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley underlined the importance of individual efforts when the Magpies faced a Brisbane Lions surge late on Saturday night.
Jarryd Blair was critical in the Magpies hanging on against the Lions. Picture: AFL Media
Holding on to a 10-point lead after conceding seven successive goals to the Lions, the Magpies had to fight from the 18-minute mark of the last quarter until the siren sounded 13 minutes later.
"I thought Tom Langdon, Alan Toovey, Jarryd Blair, to name a few, had some really special efforts in that last six minutes to find something when they didn't have anything," Buckley said.
Finding something when nothing seems to be left is what champions do in sport.
Buckley could have added Dane Swan to the list, the Brownlow medallist winning 10 disposals in the last quarter, including nine contested possessions.
Geelong – which conceded six goals straight to Hawthorn – bemoaned the fact it lost 50/50 contests that it has, at its best, traditionally won.
Its team is full of champions, but Geelong still conceded five goals in a row twice against Hawthorn on Easter Monday as it struggled to halt the reigning premiers' momentum.
It was enough to push the Cats to 17th on the ladder, their lowest position ever after a round of football and the first time they have not been in the eight since round nine, 2012.
Who knows whether it's a sign of things to come?
Momentum, the great sporting mystery, was present in the first week.
Could it extend beyond that and set the tone for the rest of the season?
Time to hold the line. It's only round one.
