COACH Paul Roos says Max Gawn’s decision to commit to Melbourne is a strong show of faith in the club.

Speaking at AAMI Park on Friday morning, Roos said Gawn was an important re-signing for the club.

“It’s shows some faith in the club – all our young blokes are signing up and seeing some direction that the club’s heading,” he said.

“With Goody (Simon Goodwin) coming in at the end of next year, the plan is in place.

“Now we just have to continue to improve on field to try and attract players from other clubs for our guys to continue to sign. But it’s really positive for us.”

Roos said Gawn’s form had been excellent since returning to the side in round 10 against Collingwood at the MCG.

“He was a bit frustrated with Mark [Jamar] playing, but it’s actually worked out really well,” he said.

“He went through a five or six week or really good form at VFL and then translated that to his AFL footy.

“In my short time here, I haven’t seen him play better and he continues to get better week in, week out. That’s the message for all of our players – to try and improve and get better, and Max has certainly done that and it’s well served. It’s great to have him at the club for [the next] three years.”

Gawn, who has played 35 matches since he made his AFL debut in 2011, believes the last month of the season will be a great chance for the side to test themselves against potential finalists.

"We really want to finish this year off well and give ourselves a kick start into 2016," the ruckman said.

Meanwhile, Roos is confident high-flying utility Jeremy Howe will re-sign with the club beyond this year.

“Sometimes players are at different levels in terms of what they want to do, so we’ve just been mindful of Jeremy just wanting to play his football. We’ve just started talking to his manager again about what he wants to do, but we’re really keen to have him part of the footy club,” Roos said.

“He’s had a really good five week patch and he’s started to settle in as a defensive player.”

Howe has played every game this season and is on target to play his 100^th AFL match in round 23 against Greater Western Sydney at Etihad stadium.

The Demons face the Western Bulldogs this Sunday at Etihad Stadium, a ground they haven’t tasted success at since round 19, 2007.

Roos doesn’t believe the poor streak at the ground is a concern and he is confident his side can defeat the in form Bulldogs for the second time this season – and third time this year, including the NAB Challenge.