MAX Gawn says NAB Challenge or not – a win is a win – and the confidence gained from Melbourne’s first official match of the season will hold it in good stead.

Melbourne produced an impressive 19-point win over Port Adelaide at Elizabeth on Saturday, after trailing by five goals. Gawn said his side’s ability to bounce back and produce a strong win was good in any situation. 

“It’s a win and the win has put a smile on our faces,” he told Dee TV.

“We know we can do it against some of the better sides now, so hopefully we can take it in against the Doggies [at Craigieburn next Sunday].

“In their NAB Challenge game against GWS, they (the Bulldogs) were pretty slick, so hopefully we can test it out against the Doggies and we’re ready to go for round one.”

Gawn said it was testing conditions at Elizabeth, given “it was hot and it was on a very big ground”.  

“It wasn’t fun for a while, but once you get on top, you start running a little bit less, so it was a little bit better,” he said.

“But it was good feeling to be in a winning side.”

Gawn said his team simply gelled better after half-time, which was the catalyst for the win.

“The first game of the year, we were all following the ball a little bit and it took until quarter-time for Goody (Simon Goodwin) to come out and correct it a little bit. From there, we actually played some pretty good footy,” he said.

“Our mids won the ball first and we were able to get the ball going forward, as we had the ball.

“It’s good. We always wanted to come here and put our best foot forward for our first game, as it gives us momentum going into round one. It was a good opportunity to come here to Elizabeth and get a good win.”

The ruckman impressed with 42 hit outs, along with his energy and movement around the ground.

“I just wanted a good first hit out,” he said.

“I got iced in the fourth quarter, which was nice. I might have a bit workload since [ruckman teammate] Pence (Jake Spencer) went down [in last week’s intra-club match].

“It’s a good stepping stone and hopefully it’ll keep going for the next few weeks.”

Despite the absence of captain Nathan Jones and 2015 best and fairest winner Bernie Vince against the Power, Gawn said there were others to stand up in the win.

“We haven’t had Jonesy or Bernie for a lot of pre-season, so it wasn’t too different for us,” he said.

“Skipper [Jack] Viney just led straight from the front.

“A couple of other young guys like Hoges (Jesse Hogan) and Tom McDonald really stood up and started leading well, so it was good.”