COACH Paul Roos has indicated that he will coach Melbourne until the end of the 2016 season and then move into another key role at the club.

Speaking to Dee TV, Roos said he hadn’t spoken to the club about coaching past his contract – he signed for two years with an option for a third – although the red and blue faithful are eager to see him remain at the helm. 

“That’s certainly something I haven’t discussed,” he said when asked if there was a chance he would coach in 2017 and/or beyond at Melbourne.

“Part of the appeal – and part of when I spoke to [chief executive] Peter [Jackson] and [president] Glen [Bartlett] – was [about] trying to set the path for the future and trying to get [the foundations] in place.

“I think a bit’s been said about the uncertainly about it, but if a coach signs on for three years, there’s massive uncertainty during that three years. There’s always uncertainty with a coach.”

But Roos said “in some shape or form, I’d like to stay involved with the footy club”.

“I’ve really enjoyed the footy club and I’ve really enjoyed the players. There may be some other different role that we come up with,” he said.

“In terms of the pure coaching and the senior coaching, the three years will see me out.”

Roos said he felt that by locking in at least two years, with the possibility of a third season, actually helped the club.

“I felt by doing what we were doing, we were giving greater certainty than what you normally have at a football club,” he said.

“We’re still wedded to that, [but] whether that’s after two years or whether that’s after three years – part of what I wanted to do was get a good group of coaches together. [Then I want to] really set the path and hand it over to someone that’s really well qualified, but knows what we’re trying to do – and [then] the path is consistent.

“I’m really wedded to that, because I’ve seen it work at Sydney and I tend to disagree when some people think ‘oh well, it’s a new coach, with new ideas’. I tend to disagree with that. They’ll have some slightly different ideas, but it’s a great way for the players to understand [and say] ‘this is where we’re going and we’ll continue that under someone else’.”

The 2005 Sydney Swans premiership coach said he was simply focused on doing his job week by week, rather than looking to 2015 or 2016.

“Two years is a long time, [but] the other way I look at it is that if we hadn’t have talked about the succession plan, then no one would’ve been talking about my contract,” he said.

“Most coaches are only contracted 18 months ahead of their time anyway and no one really knows what they’re going to do – are they going to get the sack or are they going to stay?

“I understand [the interest] … I said earlier in the week, if it does become an issue for the club and they need an answer, I’m happy to give them an answer.

“But at the moment, I’m really concentrating on trying to get the players prepared on a weekly basis and have a break this week and get ready for another tough block of footy.”

Roos, who has overseen three wins, so far this season, after the Demons managed just two in 2013, said the players had to take a lot of credit, as they had responded.

“They knew what we’ve wanted from the moment we walked into the footy club, from a coaching point of view. They’ve got to make the decision whether they want to play the way we ask them to play,” he said.

Still, Roos said it was “hard to tell” if Melbourne had exceeded expectations after nine rounds, given it came into the season on the back of its fifth worst season since it became a foundation club in the VFL/AFL in 1897. 

“Without going back over past years, we know that in every statistical category, we were 18^th by a long, long way. The gap was pretty big,” he said.

“What we talked about early days was getting our percentage a lot better than 50-something per cent, [even though] everyone wants to know about winning and losing.

“I’m just pleased going into the break and I’m pleased we won on the weekend. To have three wins and a percentage of just under 80 [per cent] – when you factor in a 93-point loss [is pleasing].”

But Roos said Melbourne’s two wins from its past three matches doesn’t change the course of the season.

“Not necessarily. We know what we’ve got to do and I think we’ve said publicly that we’ve concentrated on certain areas of our game. Eventually we’ll add things in as we move along this year and into the next pre-season and go into next year,” he said.

Looking ahead to Melbourne’s clash against Port Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park Oval in Alice Springs after the bye, Roos said it was an opportune time to come up against the top of the table team.

“Port has been terrific and their last 18 months have been exceptional. They’re now one of the real benchmark teams and it’s a real credit to Ken Hinkley and his coaching group and the stability they’ve now got at the football club,” he said.

“They’re arguably the form team of the competition at the moment, so for us to go up there is another real test.

“Having a weekend off is good to regroup a bit and hopefully we get ‘Chip’ Frawley back for the game. Nev Jetta pulled out before the game last week, so we’ll need everyone up and about and playing well. They’re a really, really good team.”

Roos will head up to Sydney for a couple of days and catch up with his eldest son Dylan. He’ll then watch his younger son Tyler play for Sandringham Dragons on Saturday at Wangaratta.