Discounting finals - a safe assumption for Melbourne in recent seasons - Queen's Birthday is the highlight of the Demons' AFL season.
In recent years, it has been the club's only chance to play in front of a decent crowd.
The stand-alone public holiday fixture means the clash with Collingwood has the full attention of the AFL community.
This is their moment to shine. Hence why it's attracted the tag 'finals-like' for the Demons in the past.
It's a term that irks Chris Dawes, just as much as 'competitive' and 'honourable loss'.
"It's really important for the club that this be a big occasion. What I baulk at a bit is we build it up to be finals-like," Dawes said on Tuesday.
"We should aspire to bigger and better things in terms of September."
That's not to say a crowd of 80,000 - as Demons coach Paul Roos is hoping for - and the in-form Magpies wouldn't give an insight into what's required to play finals.
"As a team that has aspirations - possibly not this year but in coming years - to be playing in the finals, we need experience in front of big crowds," Dawes said.
"It's a winnable game," he added, saying the occasion shouldn't disturb his younger teammates.
The ex-Collingwood key forward is hoping Monday's match against his old club will be an improvement on last year, when he suffered an ankle injury.
Dawes admitted the first battle with his old teammates felt a bit different, but that the feeling had subsided.
"There's a lot of new faces in their team ... (Jack) Frost will probably be playing on me," said Dawes, who returns after a one-match ban.
"I haven't even met that bloke."
Roos said Dawes' leadership and work rate alone would be a big boost for the Demons, who tested ladder-leading Port Adelaide in Alice Springs.
"He's one of the hardest working centre half-forwards or full-forwards I've seen," Roos said.
"Even when he's having a down period, he's still tackling and chasing and having a big impact."
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