RUCKMAN Max Gawn says Melbourne enters every match believing it can win, “otherwise you’ve almost lost it before the start of the game”.

Gawn said Melbourne had the belief to play the type of football it did against Collingwood, after winning all three NAB Challenge matches and round one over Greater Western Sydney.

“We had the confidence, but we had a bit of an off day against the Bombers,” he said on Monday, the day after Melbourne defeated Collingwood by 35 points at the MCG.

“In the future, hopefully we don’t need that whack against the Bombers to come up and perform like we did in the last two weeks, so hopefully we can keep that going.”

Gawn said the club was pleased with its strong start, which had been an issue this year.

“We were pleased with our first quarter. We’ve lost our first quarters over all of our pre-seasons NAB [Challenge] matches and also rounds one to three, so it’s good to get out,” he said.

“We knew Collingwood was going to come out hard, so it’s good to match them early.”

Gawn said he couldn’t wait for Melbourne’s round five clash against Richmond at the MCG.

“It’s a big game, Sunday night, ANZAC Day Eve and Richmond is going to come out similar to what Collingwood did – nice and hard in the first quarter and we’ve got to try and match it,” he said.