JESSE Hogan says Melbourne’s first quarter was the catalyst in its 35-point win over Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday.

The key forward said Melbourne’s six-goal to one opening term ultimately set up the victory.  

“The first quarter was huge and the players were trying to come out there and trying to make a statement,” he told Melbourne TV.

“With Howey (Jeremy Howe) now on their team, we knew there would be a bit of fire early. We knew what we had to do [in the first quarter] … so we got that right.

“They’re (Collingwood) a strong outfit and they came back at us in the second [quarter] and then we went back and forth in the third quarter, but we ended up getting there.”

Hogan said his team was fully aware that it needed to start off strongly and not play catch-up football – as has been the norm this year.

“It was two teams under the pump, as we lost to Essendon, which wasn’t ideal and then last week and had a really good performance against a quality finals side (North Melbourne),” he said.

“We came into this game with a lot of confidence, but we really did have the belief and confidence to run over the top and get the win.

“We don’t go out there and hope … we go out there knowing and believing that we can beat teams like this. We’re still developing and have a long way to go, but we are getting that belief that we can go out there and give teams like that (Collingwood) a fair shake.”

Looking ahead to next Sunday’s clash against Richmond on ANZAC Day Eve, Hogan said the team would “prepare just like we did this week”.

“We’ll try and reflect that as much as possible and go in with that real positive belief,” he said.