COACH Paul Roos says a losing streak against St Kilda, which dates back to Melbourne’s most recent finals win in 2006, hasn’t been a focus in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash against the Saints at Etihad Stadium.

Roos said he didn’t raise the fact that Melbourne has lost its past 13 matches to the Saints, which stretches back to the second elimination final win 10 years ago.

“[We’d lost to] Freo seven times in a row [until last round]. At one point, we hadn’t won at Etihad [Stadium] for 22 [matches] and against Collingwood on Queen’s Birthday,” he said on Roos’ Views.

“Coming through the period we’ve come through … there are a lot of things that we’ve addressed and got better.

“We don’t talk about any of them (losing streaks) to be honest, because what we talk about is how we want to play against St Kilda and what their best looks like – and then we go and compete as hard as we can.”

Roos said St Kilda remained a tough opponent, given its experienced players.

“They’ve got some good experience as well with [Leigh] Montagna, [Nick] Riewoldt, [Sean] Dempster and Jack Steven, who has been around for a while, so they’ve got a good sprinkle of youth and some really good experience,” he said.

“He’s (Riewoldt) been a really critical player, as has Montagna, so their experience has really helped their young players, as you would imagine. We’re expecting a tough game, as they’ve beaten us the last 13 times.

“But I think they would say and we’d say that every game is different. We had a good win over them in the NAB Challenge [this year] and then they beat us in the sixth round.”

Reflecting on Melbourne’s 32-point win over Fremantle at TIO Stadium last Saturday night, Roos said it was an important win in Melbourne’s 2016 journey.

“It was good to go up there. It was pretty tough, hot conditions, but it was the same for both teams. It’s been cold in Melbourne, so it’s been quite different,” he said.

“For the guys to play exceptionally well in the first half and then battle away in the second half in slippery conditions [was a good effort].

“If you said you’d jump on the plane and get a five-goal win against Freo, you’d take that every day of the week, so it’s a terrific effort.”

Roos said Melbourne’s win in the Northern Territory for the first time since 2011 was important for the future partnership with the NT.   

“We’ve enjoyed playing up there and part of getting better as a footy team is to have better performances in every part of Australia and against most teams,” he said.

“There are still some teams that we’re struggling to get close to – that top four bracket, but we’re confident that going up there, we could’ve had a good result, if we played the way we want to play, and we did.

“Freo has had a disappointing year, but they’ve still got some really good players and they’re still a really tough team. They started well, but to get a win up there and sign on for another two years, on the back of the win, was pretty good.”