COACH Paul Roos says new Demon Heritier Lumumba did everything he could in Melbourne’s two-point loss against Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Roos said Lumumba was easily Melbourne’s best performer, with fellow new Demon Jeff Garlett and his four goals not far behind.

“He (Lumumba) did everything but cut the oranges at three quarter-time, although I don’t think they have oranges anymore,” he said.

“He really showed us what he can do and where he can play and his ability to play in different roles.

“’H’ was by far our best player [for the match] and Jeff [Garlett] – they were our two best players, so that adds to your footy club.”

Roos said the focus was now on round one, after a NAB Challenge series that included one win and two losses by a combined total of 20 points. 

“The learning is over the three week period, rather than just each individual result. As a team, you want to win everything … but it’s more about round one than pre-season,” he said.

“The next stage for us as a group is that it’s less about the individual and more about the team and that’s the thing we can take out of tonight.”

“If you play as a team, which all of the good teams do, you get a much better result over a four quarter period.

“If you’re worried about individual things and don’t help your teammates it becomes really hard.”