Senior coach Paul Roos opened his ears to the Melbourne players

PAUL Roos has revealed he employed open ears rather than a big stick to win over Melbourne players.

Paul Roos kicks a long drop punt at Uluru.

PAUL Roos has revealed he employed open ears rather than a big stick to win over Melbourne players.

The Sydney premiership mastermind said the priority for the Demons coaching staff after his appointment was building a bond with players.

Roos said modern coaches could not afford to show only “a hard and tough” exterior.

“You have to be approachable,” he said.

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“If you don’t have good relationships with players it’s pretty hard to have hard conversations with them.

“I think that was a big focus for us as coaches pre-Christmas, trying to get to know the players well.”

Roos’ history of playing with poorly-performing teams at Fitzroy and Sydney has helped him understand the Melbourne previously battered mental state of the Demons.

News_Rich_Media: Geelong got the goods in Alice Springs on Friday night, sneaking to a 97-84 victory over Melbourne Demons.

“You do have an empathy with the players and an understanding of where they are at and I think that really helps,” Roos said.

Using a game plan taking in elements of Hawthorn’s premiership success, Roos said an encouraging pre-season was proof of progress for the Demons’ success-starved players and long-suffering supporters.

“I don’t think we are going to be a two (wins) and 20 (losses) team and have a percentage of 50,” Roos said.

“Geelong was all over us in the first and third quarters (in Alice Springs on Friday night) but we came back a bit, so we are progressing.

“We needed to find out where we were at, but certainly I think we are improving.”

The Demons’ on-field overhaul has included the introduction of a new high-possession game plan.

While the Cats pressured the Demons into a steady flow of errors and turnovers, Roos said he is confident the return from injury of key forwards Chris Dawes and Mitch Clark will benefit their ball movement.

“The main problem at the moment is just not having the big forwards, because there were times on Friday night when that long kick would have been better than a backwards handball,” he said.

“We want to keep holding the footy as Hawthorn did in the Grand Final last year — good teams do that. But we also want to go quick and deep into our forward line.

“(Missing) Personnel made it a little bit hard at the moment, so you’ve got to manufacture ways to kick goals and I’m pleased the players have found ways to do that.”

Melbourne was ranked No. 1 for disposals and time in possession over the NAB Challenge pre-season series, according to Champion Data.