Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin admits his nerves were fraying.
A week after being beaten by a goal after the final siren against Geelong, the Demons appeared set on a similar course against Adelaide on Saturday night.
In both games, Melbourne held a 29-point lead into the final quarter.
Against the Cats, the Demons were over-run and pipped by Zach Tuohy's match-winner.
Against the Crows, the Demons were under siege as Adelaide crept within seven points with a couple of minutes remaining.
Only this time, Goodwin's Demons steadied to bank a finals-shaping 13-point win over the Crows.
"It was nerve-wracking .. it was tense," Goodwin said.
"Obviously being in that position last week, they were coming pretty hard again this week.
"We had obviously learnt some stuff this week about how we wanted to manage those situations better.
"And I thought the boys executed the majority of the things well - although there is still more stuff we can do."
Goodwin praised his fellow coaches for rejuvenating players after their sapping loss to Geelong.
"Clearly it has been a pretty big week for our coaching staff," he said.
"They have done a terrific job in building our playing group back up. That was a really gut-wrenching result last week in terms of how it happened."
And he lauded his players for showing such spirit when confronted by a similar challenge.
"As a club we really attacked the game and wanted to be in a position where we could experience that moment again - and we did," Goodwin said.
"We want to experience these moments and these type of games where it's hostile and you're away from home, we just want to keep learning from those experiences as we go through.
"We talk about learning. I thought we took great learning out of the last week. And implemented it this week so we took a really big step forward."
