COACH Paul Roos has labeled Melbourne’s 17-point victory over Richmond at the MCG on Saturday as “a great win”, particularly with the emotion surrounding the match.

Roos said given the Tigers in particular – but the entire football community – was paying tribute to four-time Richmond premiership coach Tom Hafey, who passed away aged 82 earlier in the week, it was a significant effort by his charges. 

“For us to get over the line was a huge positive for the players and the club,” he said post-match.

“The huge positive was that it was such a massive game for Richmond – and for us to beat them in those circumstances was huge.

“I spoke to the players about it being an important day for us, in terms of Tommy. Tommy is a football person – he’s a Richmond four-time premiership [coach] – but he’s also been at Geelong, Collingwood and the Sydney Swans, so he’s a football person.

“We had to deliver something to Tom Hafey as well. It wasn’t just about Richmond – and I know it was a big day for Richmond and I don’t want to downplay that at all – but it was a big day for us to play well on the back of one of the greats of AFL football, a guy that’s dedicated 35 years to the game.

“We needed to put a big performance in today as well and I spoke to them about that.”

Although Melbourne’s form has been competitive in recent weeks, Roos said he wasn’t perturbed that his side wasn’t given much a chance by most football pundits pre-match.

“It’s always hard to pick games of footy. We understand we were the underdogs, but you never really worry about that and Richmond was favourites going in,” he said.

“We were playing a team [that played finals] last year and we were 17^th. All you focus on is trying to get better and that’s what we’re trying to do as a team – and we’re trying to set some standards.

“Every game’s a learning game for us and we learn every single week. We’ve got some young players learning how to play AFL standard football. We don’t focus on the outcomes, because we are coming from a long way back.

“I was really pleased that we just kept persevering and to win, which was really important.”