Paul Roos takes heart from Melbourne’s performance in 50-point loss to Hawthorn, character needed for remainder of season

MELBOURNE will use the remaining three matches of the season to determine which players really want to be a part of the club going into 2015.

AFL Round 20 Hawthorn v Melbourne at the MCG. Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones post match . Pic: Michael Klein. Saturday August 9, 2014.

MELBOURNE will use the remaining three matches of the season to determine which players really want to be a part of the club going into 2015.

Coach Paul Roos said he expected his players to show their character by putting in gritty efforts over the next three weeks against the Giants, West Coast and North Melbourne.

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“My role is to pick blokes that are invested in the footy club and want to be around the footy club and want to give it their best for the next three weeks rather than waiting for the pre-season, because if some of them wait for pre-season they might not be here in the pre-season,’’ he said.

Dejected Melbourne players walk from the ground following the 50-point loss. Photo by Darrian Traynor

Roos took heart from his team matching the reigning premiers in the second half of the 50-point loss at the MCG, saying that in the end “we just got beaten by a better team’’.

“As a coach of a team that’s obviously been struggling for a long period of time, (if) you get that sort of effort you can cop the turnovers and I guess the missed goals and that sort of thing,’’ Roos said.

“In the second half we were more than competitive … so I thought there were a lot of positives to come out both from a team performance and certainly a lot of good individual performances today.

“Probably in the past I suspect this club would probably go down by 100 points plus, but I thought today we really fought it out.’’

Melbourne again managed only nine goals, and has averaged to score just 60 points per match this season, but Roos said becoming more potent in attack was”the next stage of where we have to get to’’.

Originally published as Paul Roos takes heart from Melbourne’s performance in 50-point loss to Hawthorn, character needed for remainder of season