JACK Trengove says new coach Paul Roos has brought an aura to the club that has given the players an instant lift as they look to 2014 and beyond.

Trengove said the players were up and about as they entered their break, knowing that they would start life under the 2005 Sydney Swans premiership coach upon their return.

“He’s got an aura about him and he’s got all the runs on the board, from his previous life at Sydney, so I’m more than happy with that decision,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

The co-captain said it was a great opportunity to meet Roos, as part of the leadership group, before he was announced as coach on September 6.

“Roos wanted to hear from the playing group … he asked us to be honest about where we’re at and what we feel the future holds for us and what we think we need going forward,” he said.

“That was a great discussion to have.”

Reflecting on the 2013 season, the midfielder said it had been a season to forget as a club.

“During the season, it felt like it was going forever and then you got to the end of it and it’s another year gone,” Trengove said.

“It was disappointing from a team point of view – we managed two wins – and we had high expectations coming into the season. We thought we were going to make a lot of improvements in games and unfortunately it didn’t unfold the way we wanted it to.

“It resulted in [former coach] Neeldy (Mark Neeld) getting sacked and a few different issues along the way, which wasn’t great for any playing group. It presented its challenges for myself as an individual, and for the leadership group.”

But Trengove said improvement had been made under former interim coach Neil Craig in the latter part of the season.

“No team wants to go out and only have two wins for the season, but we started to make some inroads in the second half of the season and if we have a few things go our way with injuries going forward, I feel as though we can make massive steps forward,” he said.

“With another pre-season under the belt as the whole group together … I’m still excited about the prospects over the next couple of years.

“I think we’ve got a fantastic list together – it’s just a matter of putting in the hard yards and we’ll start going forward.”