Michael Walters' heroics have ended Melbourne's AFL dreams with the Fremantle star revelling in the wet to inspire the Dockers to a 14-point win in Cairns.
In a dour scrap, Walters booted three of Fremantle's six goals as the Dockers claimed their sixth win of 2020 in difficult conditions on Monday night.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin made seven changes for the must-win clash at Cazaly Stadium, but the Demons were just as flat as they were in last Thursday's defeat to Sydney as the Dockers prevailed 6.11 (47) to 4.9 (33).
They could have jumped back into the top eight on the ladder with a victory, but instead Melbourne trailed all night, lost the uncontested possession count by 106 and never looked like winning until a late mini-charge.
The Demons' first goal didn't come until 17 minutes into the second quarter, with Walters kicking the only other major of the first half.
With the game in the balance nearing three-quarter-time, Walters' two quick goals gave the Dockers a 17-point lead at the final change.
Fremantle young gun Adam Cerra's stunning goal-of-the-year contender from the pocket 10 minutes into the final quarter was the final nail in Melbourne's coffin.
After Cerra's goal, the Demons finally lifted as Aaron vandenBerg and Bayley Fritsch quickly doubled their team's goal tally from the previous 80 minutes, but they left their run too late.
To qualify for just their second finals appearance in 14 seasons, the Demons will now have to win their remaining games against GWS and Essendon and rely on other results falling their way.
"Freo were better than us," Goodwin said.
"The efficiency on both sides of the ball was pretty stark and it showed out in the game and that's why we sit where we sit right now."
Walters stood out from the rest in a game when matchwinners were hard to find, but defender Luke Ryan held up Fremantle's back-half, Cerra again demonstrated his star-of-the-future tag and Taylin Duman impressed before going down with an ankle injury.
Dockers coach Justin Longmuir said he was delighted with his team's defensive play.
"We'll just continue to work on forward of centre," he said.
"We're dominating the inside-50s but we just aren't getting it on the scoreboard, that's probably the last piece of the puzzle at the moment."
Midfield bulls Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca, in his 100th AFL game, were Melbourne's best.