COACH Paul Roos says Melbourne’s competitive effort against the Sydney Swans at the MCG in round six was pivotal to its outstanding on-the-road win against the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

The Demons defeated the Crows by three points, ending a 17-game losing streak to Adelaide and Port Adelaide in South Australia, having lost at AAMI Stadium 16 times and Adelaide Oval once since round two, 2001.

Although Roos said the players found confidence from their round four win over Carlton, he pointed to his side’s 31-point loss against one of the best teams in the business – the Sydney Swans – as a genuine reason for their memorable win against the Crows.  

“Maybe [we found belief] last week – playing against a really good team in Sydney. I thought all but 20 minutes of the game were pretty good last week,” he said.

“It comes slowly and it comes at different stages for different players – and a lot of them just need to play a lot of football and it showed [against Adelaide] that with some of those younger guys that have got six or seven games under their belt – they’re improving individually, which means you’re improving collectively.”

Roos said the interstate win was a significant step in his side’s development,” he said.

“We’re still a side that’s building to play 120 minutes of footy – there’s no doubt,” he said.

“To beat the Crows over here [at Adelaide Oval] – for us – is a terrific win for the guys and to really dig in late [as] the Crows were coming late in the second [quarter] and late in the last [quarter].

“For us to win is a great achievement for the players.”