PAUL Roos says he doesn’t see Darwin as a hoodoo venue for the club.
Although Melbourne has broken several long-standing losing streaks at venues, and against certain clubs, under Roos, it hasn’t won in Darwin since 2011.
But he said his charges were determined to break the four-match losing streak in the Top End against Fremantle at TIO Stadium on Saturday night.
“There are a lot of those hoodoos we’ve had to break over the last three years,” he said.
“It’s funny because we haven’t had a great record at Etihad [Stadium] and that’s about 15 minutes away from [the MCG].
“Every game is an opportunity and travelling for a team that doesn’t travel a lot can be a positive. Having coached an interstate team, there are a lot of benefits about going away every second week.
“For us, it’s about the evolution of the side – a young team going away and learning how to win together and win on the road. But we’re a young team and winning anywhere is hard. We need to play well at the MCG and when we play up north.”
Roos said it was a bit of a refresher getting up in the Darwin heat.
“It’s been pretty wet down in Melbourne, so training has been pretty hard,” he said.
“We’ve modified our training a bit this week to give us a bit more of a chance.”