COACH Paul Roos said the Demons learned plenty from playing the Western Bulldogs earlier in the season and expects that to benefit them this time around, when the two sides meet this Sunday at Etihad Stadium.

Although Melbourne went down by 16 points against the Bulldogs in round eight at the MCG, Roos said their second meeting against the Dogs would be another tough contest.

“When we played them, they were exactly the same as what we thought. I’ve got a lot of respect for the way the Dogs go about it. They want to play a one-on-one brand and they want to play a contested brand and they’re very similar in the way we want to set up our team and our young players,” he said.

“I think Brendan [McCartney] teaches his players the way we’re trying to teach our players. I thought the game last time was a really good contest, as we expected it to be.

“In the end, it was probably just a little bit of class and composure that got them over the line. We certainly learned a lot against them and it’s going to be another really hard game this week.”

Roos said he was frustrated from last Sunday’s 41-point loss against North Melbourne at the MCG, after a strong period of football from his charges.

“I thought we’ve been really consistent over the [past] eight to 10 week window,” he said.

“We let ourselves down over the weekend. Watching the tape, it was probably a 20-minute period [that we let ourselves down], but I didn’t think we played great for four quarters.

“I was really disappointed with our effort and we certainly need to address it this week.”