MELBOURNE's players were given every opportunity to celebrate their breakthrough 23-point win over Carlton, but the club's focus will narrow with Paul Roos expecting another sustained effort against Gold Coast on Sunday.

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"They've got to enjoy it because it has been a long time," Roos said on Monday afternoon.

"So that's the first thing – we've got an eight-day break and then you get back into training.

"We've been down this path before, I think they're appreciative of the win."

Roos said he hopes the defensive effort his players brought against Carlton could be replicated against the Suns on Sunday.

The Demons out-tackled the Blues 84-65, a drastic improvement on their performance in a loss to Greater Western Sydney the week prior (70-115).

"The biggest change for us was probably the tackle numbers on the weekend," Roos said.

"We didn't tackle well in terms of numbers against the Giants, so that was the best stat out of the weekend.

"That's a minimum standard."

Melbourne is ranked ninth for points conceded so far in 2014 with an average of 82 points a game, a vast advancement on last season where it finished in 17^th, behind only a young Giants side.

"I was looking at that last night actually because you try to look at the positives," Roos said.

"To see us middle of the table in points against has been really important. If you can keep teams to reasonable scores, you can at least stay in games for longer."

"Considering we got belted by West Coast, the other three games we've been defensively very good."

Roos said he is unsure when, or if, James Frawley and Lynden Dunn would return to the backline, after successful stints in attack.

Frawley, in particular, excelled against the Blues, collecting 24 disposals and kicking two goals in the Demons' win.

"Originally it was supposed to be to change the focus of the team, a little bit. [Chris] Dawes coming back helps us, moving forward," Roos said.

"It'd be hard to move him back after his game on the weekend. Having said that, it's going to be hard to keep Dunn and Frawley forward week in, week out because they're both really good defenders."