COACH Paul Roos says Melbourne is now a “better balanced” football team.

Speaking after his side’s 33-point win over Richmond at the MCG on ANZAC Day Eve, Roos said his side was now making strong progress in it development.

“They’re (players) a bit clearer on what we expect and I think that’s one of the keys to it,” Roos said.

“The personnel has changed a lot over the last few years and I think if you look at the guys we’ve brought in – (Tomas) Bugg and (Ben) Kennedy – [they are competitors].

“Heritier’s (Lumumba) a lot fitter this year than what he’s been.”

Roos said his charges were still trying to get the balance right between an offensive game style and defence. But he said the team now had the ability to recover from its mistakes, which it hadn’t in previous times.

“That’s really pleasing. It’s really pleasing that when we made mistakes and they kicked a couple of goals we steadied,” he said.

“Richmond was really good at times around the contest and our guys were able to respond a couple of times.”

Meanwhile, Roos said it remained unclear if Christian Petracca would make his AFL debut and play against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium next Saturday.

“It's a short break for us, similar to St Kilda, so the biggest thing for us is recovery and getting right for next week,” he said.

“How the guys recover and how many spots will be up for grabs – we’ll wait until later in the week.”