COACH Paul Roos says his side wouldn’t have won last week’s clash against the Gold Coast Suns when he first arrived at the club.  

Roos said after reflecting on the two-point win at the MCG last Sunday, “it was probably one of those games in the past that we perhaps wouldn’t have got over the line”.

“At the end of the day, we think there is a real appreciation from the coaches and players, and internally and from the fans as well, that from the disappointment of the game itself, there was the excitement of ‘hang on, Wattsy’s kicked the goal and we’ve won the game and got our eighth win for the season’,” he said on Roos’ Views.

“So I think overall, it’s been a really positive week and I was certainly positive with the players after the game, because we know it wasn’t a great game, but in the past they’re the ones that we would’ve lost by four or six goals – and we ended up winning the game.

“We’ve got to improve our ball use – there was a lot to like about it – but [some of the] kicking and handballing [wasn’t and if it’s not improved] there can be some catastrophic results.”

Roos said there was no doubt his side had to improve significantly this round if was to overcome Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better. If you keep giving the ball back to Hawthorn, you’re not going to see it back again until the umpire’s bounced it back in the middle of ground,” he said.

“Those games [like last round against the Suns] can be really invigorating, but if you lose those games – you go the other way and you get disappointed and then you go ‘oh we’ve got to play again’.

“The players feel ‘geez, we’ve got a win and we’re really excited about [playing] Hawthorn’. They’re really excited about the next four games and [even though] it’s a tough game against Hawthorn, it’s exciting for us to see what we can do in the next four weeks.”