SUNDAY was as foreign as it’s ever been for Paul Roos as an AFL coach. 

Never in his 204 AFL games as an AFL coach (202 with the Sydney Swans and two for Melbourne) has he suffered a defeat – by 93 points – as the one he did against the West Coast Eagles at the MCG. Ironically, his worst loss with the Swans occurred against the Demons in round 17, 2010, by 73 points.

For Roos, there were moments that happened against the Eagles that he hadn’t experienced – at all.

“Some of the stuff today … guys missing chest marks. I haven’t seen that before, so it’s an eye-opener for me. Some of the errors were just incredible,” he said post-match.

What also came from the match was further confirmation of what needs to be done to transform a team that finished with two wins and a percentage of 54 last year – statistically in wins and losses, it was the club’s fifth worst season since 1897 last year.

The dearth of big men, particularly to its forwards and ruck division, has also hurt the Demons significantly in the early part of the season.

“Going into the season … [we had Mitch] Clark, [Jesse] Hogan and [Chris] Dawes [up forward] and we had a solid midfield, but [now] we just haven’t got a forward line. That’s how quickly footy can change,” he said.

But for anyone to suggest a sharp, sudden rise up the ladder – even with Roos at the helm – is grossly unrealistic. Not in this day and age of an 18-team competition. Roos doesn’t deal in unrealistic situations and that was clear from his message following round two.

He was adamant the gap has widened from the top tiered teams to the lower rung sides such as the Demons. Reversing the trend is achievable, but far from easy and Roos’ work on the future of the club’s list is already being worked on.

“It’s round two, but I’m certainly putting a dossier together. It’s early in my tenure here, but certainly you’re building up a profile on each of the players … seeing them under the heat and seeing what they can and can’t do,” he said.

“At some point, you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and you’ve got to say ‘these are the guys that you’re going to pick’.

“We’ve got to be clear on what we want to stand for as a footy club and what we deem as acceptable and unacceptable.”

In fact, Roos said because he was “learning about the players all of the time”, change was imminent. 

“They (the players) have been belted a lot in the last couple of years, but even more now, [I’ll have to say:] ‘this is what I want, if you can’t deliver, then someone else [will]’,” he said.

“That’s fine – that’s where we’ve got to be over the next two, three, four, five weeks. I’ll just make changes and make statements and that’s what footy is.”

Roos was adamant that the team had to adhere to “non-negotiables” and had to continue to break the cycle – a theme noted after round one, but reinforced strongly again this week.

“There’s some real habits in the club and they’re hard to break – they’re really, really hard to break,” he said.

“That’s my role and the other coaches’ role – to read the cues and read the signs and to get to know players and what motivates each of them – they’re all very different characters.

“But you can’t lose sight of the fact that you have to be competitive over a two or three year period – depending on how long I’m doing it – so I’ve got to leave this club in a much better position that when I arrived and that’s’ my goal and it hasn’t changed.”

And if there was ever any doubt over Roos’ role at Melbourne, he was very clear about his intentions – and that won’t deviate.

 “It’s to make this footy club into a footy club where people can come and watch and make sure that the team’s competitive on a weekly basis,” he said.

“And that’s what I knew the job was and that hasn’t changed.”