MFC lost to Hawthorn Rd 1 2010 by 56 points last year, this is after Hawthorn took it easy in the last and MFC kicked 4.4 to their 2.1 last.

We can all decide on how MFC are progressing after the next 5 odd rounds. But being captain obvious here, the next 5 games are crucial. I am sure 99% of you penciled these games in for a win when the fixture came out.

MFC should surely win all the below games, BUT in stating this MFC could not beat North last year (26 & 10 point losses), they let the WCE game slip (29 points), stopped a Lions last quarter comeback to win by 10 points (however MFC destroyed them rd 5), lucky win against the Crows round 3 (heavy Crows injuries) and a smashing of 44 points in round 13, And then MFC have Gold Coast Rd 4, surely that is a game where MFC SHOULD take away 4 points and a big percentage booster, fingers crossed K.Hunt remains in the back line..

Rd 3 Melbourne vs. Brisbane Lions MCG

Rd 4 Gold Coast Suns vs. Melbourne Gabba

Rd 6 West Coast Eagles vs. Melbourne Patersons Stadium

Rd 7 Melbourne vs. Adelaide Crows MCG

Rd 8 North Melbourne vs. Melbourne Etihad Stadium

Then its five tough games following St Kilda, Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood & Fremantle if MFC can come away with at least 4 of the 5 games above then it would be a great confidence boosters for the pups at the MFC to face the next 5.

Thought & Opinions..

Brisbane - Yes

GC - Yes

West Coast - Voted NO, but we can play Subi alright

Adelaide - Yes, I think we can win this game, especially at the MCG.

North - Voted No, but I'm very interested in this game because it's one we SHOULD win, so I will get an idea of our improvement when we play this game.

At worse, 3 1/3 wins from 6 games. I think we can beat St Kilda and Essendon. If we can get to Round 12 with 5 or 6 wins, I'll be over the moon.

Feel we can win the next five, almost have to win them. Then need to win 3 out of the next 5 to prove we are going forward. Long way off but looking forward to the Queens b/day game

I actually only consider GC a win... Only as I can't stomach the notion of us being their first scalp. All others are now iffy!!

Were supposed to be taking a step up this year... All I've seen is stumbling back.

We SHOULD win all five ... We won't

I actually only consider GC a win... Only as I can't stomach the notion of us being their first scalp. All others are now iffy!!

Were supposed to be taking a step up this year... All I've seen is stumbling back.

We SHOULD win all five ... We won't

At what stage this year were any of the games certainties?

Why SHOULDN'T West Coast win at home against ANYONE they play? Why SHOULDN'T any team beat the team they are playing?

Next year there will still be some iffy games, the year after is when we SHOULD start winning certain games.

It wont let me vote for none.

I actually only consider GC a win... Only as I can't stomach the notion of us being their first scalp. All others are now iffy!!

Were supposed to be taking a step up this year... All I've seen is stumbling back.

We SHOULD win all five ... We won't

I don't think you can say on form that we SHOULD beat either WCE or Adelaide, the Crows in particular. We should beat North but they're a real bogey side for us. While we certainly have the ability to win against any of these sides, I wouldn't be surprised if we only win two of these games.

We should beat Brisbane & GC, but after last night if the player attitude and application does not improve over 4 Quarters, other teams will carve us up.

Last night 3rd Q Hawthorn 19 scoring shots to our 2. Other teams are going to look closely at that game.

Jim Stynes deserves more effort than that.

To me, the crows a by far the best team in that group, and the most potent up forward.

Realistically we have a reasonable chance against all, but I'm much more confident against W/C on the big ground over there, than Adelaide here at the 'G'.

We should beat Brisbane & GC, but after last night if the player attitude and application does not improve over 4 Quarters, other teams will carve us up.

Last night 3rd Q Hawthorn 19 scoring shots to our 2. Other teams are going to look closely at that game.

Jim Stynes deserves more effort than that.

I don't think any afl side could havestopped the hawks in that 3rd qtr, last night.

To me, the real question is how we let them off the noose. We were maintaining a fair amount of control and respect, then we got LAZY during that second Qtr. We stopped running and presenting, and the Rot setin. this let Hawthorn up, and away they went. Once the lights were on, ther stars came out to play, and there was No stopping them.

The damage to our belief in structures and to players would be huge. Changes Must take place. the soft must go back, to learn How To harden up.

*I'm concerned that with the GC Suns and the GWS's ability to sign young players,,, that our Admin is going soft on some to keep them. This is the wrong way.

To me, the crows a by far the best team in that group, and the most potent up forward.

Realistically we have a reasonable chance against all, but I'm much more confident against W/C on the big ground over there, than Adelaide here at the 'G'.

The Crows are too quick for our team - the boys dazzled through their 2nd quarter yesterday, running their guts out and the Hawks were left flat footed. Unfortunately, they couldn't sustain the gut wrenching running. Against Hawthorn, the Crows just kept running and running and running. They will catch us out as our slow midfield will be found wanting.

The Crows are too quick for our team - the boys dazzled through their 2nd quarter yesterday, running their guts out and the Hawks were left flat footed. Unfortunately, they couldn't sustain the gut wrenching running. Against Hawthorn, the Crows just kept running and running and running. They will catch us out as our slow midfield will be found wanting.

Agreed. But it doesn't matter in the bigger picture if we fail this year to beat the top 6 sides. We just need to win enough in a way that promotes our self belief in our own progress.

To win in proud style with heads held high. And to start to play like AFL Men.

I don't think any afl side could havestopped the hawks in that 3rd qtr, last night.

To me, the real question is how we let them off the noose. We were maintaining a fair amount of control and respect, then we got LAZY during that second Qtr. We stopped running and presenting, and the Rot setin. this let Hawthorn up, and away they went. Once the lights were on, ther stars came out to play, and there was No stopping them.

The damage to our belief in structures and to players would be huge. Changes Must take place. the soft must go back, to learn How To harden up.

*I'm concerned that with the GC Suns and the GWS's ability to sign young players,,, that our Admin is going soft on some to keep them. This is the wrong way.

we were only in the game even at half time because of our accuracy in front of goal. Hawthorn kicked 3.13 by half time.

it is a shame we went defensive in the last 5 minutes before half time....very costly.

we were only in the game even at half time because of our accuracy in front of goal. Hawthorn kicked 3.13 by half time.

it is a shame we went defensive in the last 5 minutes before half time....very costly.

Was not! In hindsight it didn't matter a toss. In the coming years, we will need to be able to do this (go defensive) if a team is gathering momentum, and reducing our lead (like Hawthorn were doing in the last 5 minutes of that quarter).

First two games I would count a wins. After that period we would also have Frawley more closer to fully match fit, and possibly Morton back (if there's a spot for him that is).

We should beat West Coast, even though it is over in W.A, our list should match there's pretty well, and this time they don't have Mark LeCras.

After that, Adelaide and Nth Melb. I think Adelaide will be a tough one given that they've beaten the team that just gave us a towelling. Nth Melbourne should be healthier by the time we play them, but it's also possible we have McKenzie back by then, which to me is a crucial in.

So i'm going to go with winning 4/5 with a loss to either Adelaide or Nth, leaving us with a W/L record of 4W 1D 2L at round 8. Then I reckon we can give St Kilda, Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood and Fremantle a real shake and possibly win 2 out of those 5.

St Kilda have not been very impressive so far this year, and Lenny Hayes going down for the season is a massive hit for them.

We play Freo at home which gives us an edge, and i think Essendon's silver lining may have become slightly dimmer by the time we play them to.

I give us a serious chance in all 5 games, but 2 or 3 out of 5 is probably most likely.

That would be a decent start to the year if we could be 6W, 1D, 5L after all that. We'd possibly be sitting in the 8 or just outside of it if our record was something like that.

we were only in the game even at half time because of our accuracy in front of goal. Hawthorn kicked 3.13 by half time.

it is a shame we went defensive in the last 5 minutes before half time....very costly.

We went defensive because we'd already stopped presenting, and running, about 10 minutes prior. What I mean by that is, that we were stuttering with bringing the ball forward, because Some were not working hard anymore, through the middle and up front. Not working into space. It started about the 10 or 15 minute mark.

What happened next was that the Hawks were able to counter attack harder, putting us on the back foot, defending their attacks. They had started to pressure and harass us more through the second Qtr. When we relented the game was theirs.

i think we'll win 2 out of 5

The only team that we should beat easily is Gold Coast. I hope we also beat Brisbane this week, which without JB & staker should be no problem.

I'd like to see us beat the eagles, i'll be there cheering for us, but they'll be full of confidence after beating some weaker teams in rounds 1 & 2.

Adelade & North could be wins, but i am not confident enough to lock them in. I rate adelaide, and north are about on par with us. Just depends if we show up to play?!

We most definitely should win the next two. Failure to do so will imply we play some pretty rancid football.

As for the other three, depending on what kind of form we build over the next two weeks, they are all winnable but also are all loseable. We don't just go to Perth and win games. And West Coast are currently undefeated (sure, they've only played North Melbourne and Port Adelaide, but they've still got 2 wins). Adelaide beat Hawthorn last week, but it's hard to judge that performance given they had the bye this week. That's in Melbourne too, so that helps. And we suck immensely against North Melbourne, and that's at Etihad, but they're playing some shocking football atm. So they could all go either way.

I expect us to win the first two, head to the bye on 2-1-1, and then proceed to lose the next three, leaving us 2-1-4 and facing a month of high-profile games that we will lift for.

Will win the next two, but the GC game is iffy for me.

The loss we had to have...if this isnt line in the sand stuff then.....

I am a Melbourne supporter that has just seen my team concede 75 Inside 50s but I think they can go on a 5 game winning streak.

Er.

While I agree with your sentiment, we practically did that last season.

I think sometimes it's perfectly normal for a team to slip up and suffer a belting, before getting their act together and finding half-decent form and consistency.

Yes but we won't! to start with North will apply the same pressure as the Hawks and we will wilt for the same reasons.

Remember last season Hawks and North whipped us in a similar fashion

Adelaide is a chance at the MCG but that is the only reason I can think of to summons up a win.

Was not! In hindsight it didn't matter a toss. In the coming years, we will need to be able to do this (go defensive) if a team is gathering momentum, and reducing our lead (like Hawthorn were doing in the last 5 minutes of that quarter).

It most certainly did matter!!! Hawthorn were reducing our lead because the MFC had stopped hunting the Ball and making leading options.

We had momentum going our way and gave them a sniff, i am not saying we would have won, But we must learn to Hunt the ball longer.

Going defensive is something for the last quarter, not the first half.

More importantly can we win the Premiership in 2014,15 and 16. I hope we can because I'll be well out of patience by then.