MELBOURNE captain James McDonald says the mood among the players has not dampened, despite some key players suffering medium to long-term injuries in the recent NAB Challenge.

Cale Morton (knee), Liam Jurrah (shoulder), Daniel Bell (shoulder), Austin Wonaeamirri (hamstring) and Colin Sylvia (jaw) sustained injuries during that series. But setbacks to Morton and Jurrah will hurt the Dees, as they will be sidelined for the first half of the season.

But McDonald said the squad's youthfulness - Melbourne has the second youngest list in the competition - has not dented its anticipation for the premiership season.   

"No, not really," McDonald told melbournefc.com.au.

"The thing about young blokes is that they're pretty resilient and they're pretty enthusiastic, so the mood and spirit has been really good.

"It's not the ideal start … but if you sit down and analyse it, it's not [too bad]."

McDonald is optimistic Sylvia, who had his best season in 2009, won't be too far from resuming, along with Bell.

"Although Colin's broken his jaw, he should be close to round one or two, so he's better than expected; Daniel Bell might be round six or seven," McDonald said.

"It's going to hurt us a little bit, but there is nothing we can do about it."

McDonald all but ruled out Wonaeamirri for round one against Hawthorn at the MCG on March 27.

"He'd be struggling," he said. 

"He's been really keen and enthusiastic at training and it was just bad luck; he's done it (the hamstring) a couple of times tackling, so there's something that's triggering that off.

"It's the lowest strain you can get - it's only two or three weeks, but it's just frustrating for him, because he hasn't played for a year."

Now the fifth most senior player in the AFL - only Dustin Fletcher, Brad Johnson, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards are older - McDonald played three pre-season matches and was arguably Melbourne's best performer.

The 33-year-old is now hoping that form continues into the season proper.

"It's the first pre-season in a couple of years that the body's been good. I've been able to do every session and that helps give you a bit of confidence, so hopefully it'll continue through the year," McDonald said.

"I've been a bit disappointed with the last two years; in 2006-07 they were pretty big years personally.

"Having the responsibility of captaining again - I'm just really keen to have a really good personal season as well, because that's important being captain that you perform out on the field."

McDonald hinted midfielder/half-back James Strauss could debut in round one, after playing all four pre-season matches.

"He was picked at the start of round two [in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft], so he's got a bit of talent," he said.

"He had a bad run with injury last year; he's a good skilled player and a good kick, so it'll be good to get him out there playing."

The dual Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy winner expects Matthew Bate (hamstring) to play in round one, with Jack Watts (back) likely to start via Casey Scorpions.

"He (Bate) was probably a little bit rusty last weekend, but he'll get another run under his belt [this weekend] and he'll be okay, because he's an important player for us," McDonald said.

"Jack's had a bit of an interrupted pre-season … he's strung together a few weeks now, so if he keeps going that way, he'll start playing a few games for Casey.

"Hopefully we can get him out there sooner rather than later."