COACH Paul Roos says Melbourne’s 64-point loss to GWS at the MCG on Sunday reinforced how much work his side has to do in its quest to rise up the ladder on the back of just two wins last year.  

Roos said it was always going to be a three to five year project from the start of 2014 to get the right list and challenge for the eight in the coming seasons.

“With an 18-team competition and with free agency, I think everyone understands how hard it is if you’re a bottom club – there’s no question about that,” he said.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges of free agency. I suspect you’re probably going to have the same four teams in the preliminary final this year, as you had last year – you could very well have the same four teams next year in the preliminary final.

“Competition has changed significantly in the last three years with the Suns and the Giants, because those kids didn’t go to the bottom teams and another step is free agency.

“We’ve seen the majority of the better players go to the top eight teams – [Brendon] Goddard, [Nick] Dal Santo and [Lance] Franklin etc [so that makes a difference].”