One of the AFL’s great innovations of the past decade has been the popular theme rounds, such as heritage round, rivalry round and who could forget – women’s round. For next year maybe Round 1 could be renamed “It’s going to be a long winter round”, dedicated to the supporters of the eight losing clubs who are currently calling for their coaches to be sacked, senior players axed and memberships refunded.

Although the standard of opponent was a couple of notches higher, the Dees weren’t much more impressive against the Saints than they were in “It’s going to be a long winter round” last year when they went down to lowly Carlton. The Saints will be hoping that their season doesn’t now slide the way of the Blues’ 2006 campaign.

Just like the Easter Bunny a day earlier, Melbourne will need to bounce back strongly in front of a public holiday crowd at the MCG and remind everyone that they can play bums-on-seats football.

Ready for a big one
One recurring theme in Kevin Sheedy’s mammoth tenure as Essendon coach is that every time he signs a new contract, his team seems to fall into some kind of form slump. Cameron Bruce will be looking to prove that last weekend – where he was unusually quiet against St Kilda – was an aberration and that he is not suffering from a dose of the new contract blues. With broom-broom Brock missing from the midfield, Bruce and 150th-gamer Brad Green will need to get behind the steering wheel and provide some drive through the middle of the ground.

The Wildcard

No-one can understand why none of Melbourne’s players wanted to kick the ball (or “the damn ball” as most supporters refer to it) last week. Even the Outsider’s wisdom cannot work out why any player would prefer to handpass the ball five metres instead of kicking it 30 or more metres. There is only one valid explanation as to why there were so many handpasses - new shoes. Being the first round, all of the players would have been running around in brand new footy boots and obviously they had sore feet from not wearing them in properly.

The talking point

Both teams have come off ordinary opening rounds but no player has copped more criticism than Adem Yze, whose name many think should be unglued from the magnet board this week for the first time in Neale Daniher’s tenure. The footy community is split as to whether he should get a couple more games to play himself into form or if he should make the trip to Geelong to don a Sandringham guernsey. Considering he hasn’t missed a game in ten years, the Outsider thinks he should have a run for the Zebras on Saturday and if he gets a few kicks, let him back it up on Monday for the Dees. The AFLPA might class it as cruelty to a player, but there’s nothing better than good old-fashioned match practice to find some form.

The Outsider’s Tips

Everyone at Melbourne knows that “It’s going to be a long winter round” can only last one week without putting a dent in the season. Last year it extended to three rounds and hurt our top four aspirations.

Leading Goalkicker: Neitz kicked a bag last year against the Hawks standing on whipping boy Zac Dawson but Robbo looked sharp last week- even kicking a goal that showed off his break dancing skills. We are going to see these two sharing the goals around more this year but it might just be Aaron Davey who kicks a few after a rare quiet showing last week.

Best on Ground: Travis Johnstone carried some great preseason form into last week’s game but failed to have much of an impact. This week he’ll get back on his game and hit the forwards on the chest lace out as only he knows how.

The verdict: Melbourne by 41 points

Please note: The Outsider is an MCC member who finally forked out 40 bucks for a MELBOURNEfc membership this year. His opinions do not represent those of the players, staff and officials at the Club.