MELBOURNE coach Paul Roos says there is a clear feeling of belief around the playing group heading into the 2016 season.

The Demons won all three of their NAB Challenge games and will look to take that form into Saturday’s round one clash with GWS Giants at the MCG.

Roos said with approximately 30 players having arrived at the club in recent years, the club’s focus was now squarely on locking down the game plan.

 “[Our focus is] probably more just cementing the game style and them understanding it a bit more which takes a long time to implement, it’s been two years now,” Roos said on Monday.

“Things will get bumpy during the year but I think the players are more confident in each other, they’re more confident in the coaches [and] the coaches are more confident in the players.

“So I think the club realises it’s heading in the right direction – I often say it’s hard to put a date on [when] we’re going to arrive – but we’re on the right track.”

Roos returns to coaching the team after senior assistant coach Simon Goodwin took the reins for the NAB Challenge.

The experienced senior coach said the club had a focus on compiling a strong, experienced coaching group.

“One of my main roles with Josh Mahoney was to put together a very, very competent coaching group that could coach the team in a certain way that would allow us to compete well and hopefully win a premiership,” Roos said.

“Simon’s a very big part of that clearly, as is Brendan [McCartney] and Jade [Rawlings] and Ben [Mathews] and all the crew we’ve put together.

“I think we’ve realised internally that it’s not just one person, it’s about everyone doing their job and if we all do our job well then we’re going to have some success.”

Roos said Melbourne would continue to work on bridging the gap between its best and worst football.

Coming off the back of seven wins in 2015, the coach said finals aspirations were a logical extension of the club’s focus on improvement.

“I think aspirationally at some point you’ve got to start talking about [finals], I think that’s where we’re at as a footy club,” Roos said.

“You’ve got to get your players starting to think about it… and not be worried about expectation.

“Whether we’re there or not… we’re still young, we’re still developing but I believe we’re at a stage now where we can start to talk to our players about it and start to say ‘this is what it looks like’ and if we’re to get there, we need to play this style of football.”

With a number of young players coming through the team, Roos said it was important to instill good habits in the group early to help improve consistency on game day.

“We think our players can play to a good level but [they need] to do it consistently and to create really good habits,” he said.

“That’s what Hawthorn have got, great habits, and Sydney and Fremantle and Geelong – all the teams at the top – they turn up on the weekend and they’re just ready to go and they know what to do.

“Our guys are still young and we’ve still got to teach them and we’re just trying to fast track them with not only the game plan but also what the behaviours look like when they train and when they play.”