COACH Paul Roos says the Demons erred in subbing out midfielder Dom Tyson against the Gold Coast Suns at the MCG on Sunday.

The former Giant was relinquished of his duties in the third term and replaced by fellow midfielder Michael Evans. But speaking post-match, Roos said Tyson should’ve played out the match upon reflection.

“It was probably a mistake in the end to be honest,” he said.

“He hasn’t had five weeks of footy before, so you’re thinking ‘does he need a bit of a breather? Is it a bit of a chance to get him off for a fresh sub?’ There was a lot of debate about the sub.

“I reckon, when I look back on it after the game, we probably erred on taking him off, because he’s one guy who does get his hands on the footy pretty regularly. It was a case of trying to manage him a little bit. But if I had my time over again, I’d have probably left him on.”

Tyson almost won a reprieve to stay on the ground, when Jack Viney copped a knock on the other side of the ground from the interchange.

“The coaching staff said to the bench ‘hang on, we haven’t made a decision yet and we better just check on Jack’,” Roos said.

“That’s what happened there [and why Tyson almost stayed on].”

In the end, Viney played out the match and had 24 disposals and Tyson had 13 touches.