WE ENTERED round two under an enormous amount of scrutiny due to our loss against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba the previous weekend. Naturally we were disappointed after round one and we certainly copped our share of criticism from all quarters.

It's always interesting entering the first match of the season. Some people talk about round one being worth 12 points or three wins, but in reality it's just one round and a four-point win.

Our focus for round two was to play good, exciting footy, which we know we are capable of playing, and we achieved this against Melbourne on a warm Easter Monday. And with the match being the only game in town, it was great to show our wares.

I thought we played reasonably well, without playing our best, and it was pleasing to come away with the four points.

Deep down in our hearts and coaching philosophies, we knew the type of style we played on Monday was more akin to what we are aiming for most weeks.

And if you reflect on last Thursday's Brisbane Lions and St Kilda clash, in many ways it was similar to our round one match against the Lions.

The Saints really struggled to play their natural game, but credit must be given to the Lions as they haven't yet allowed their oppositions to play a free-flowing style of game. We certainly weren't able to achieve that against them.

Although we played Melbourne in the NAB Cup we didn't take much out of that contest into round two, as both teams were missing several key players back in February.

Last year the Demons touched us up when we played them, so we knew we would have our work cut out again.

Despite losing its first two matches of the season, Melbourne is still a good team. Last year it lost its opening three rounds and then it bounced back to play in the finals. When the Demons are up and going they are a top four team, so we took a lot of confidence out of our performance, as we were able to stifle them, play well and ultimately win.

We were really pleased with our 22 players against Melbourne, after we probably didn't have one winner against the Lions.

But special mention must be made of Rick Ladson's effort on Aaron Davey. Rick had 28 disposals and I believe he could be one of the players to stand out in the competition this year.

Brad Sewell was also outstanding. He finished third in our best and fairest award last year, so we rate him very highly. His effort on Travis Johnstone was tremendous and he won plenty of the touches as well.

Up forward Mark Williams was back to his elusive best with six goals, while Campbell Brown also did a great job on Russell Robertson for three quarters, until 'Robbo' went off in the last quarter. Trent Croad was also very good, down back and up forward.

And Shane Crawford, who like Brown returned from suspension, was a fine player throughout the midfield, running through the lines.

We now turn our attention to the Kangaroos and look forward to playing some more exciting footy against them at Telstra Dome on Sunday.