COACH Paul Roos believes the Demons have “improved dramatically as a footy club” this year.

Speaking at AAMI Park on Tuesday, Roos said his team had made genuine in roads this season, despite going down to the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium last round, after giving up a 14-point lead in the final term. 

“That’s a credit to the players [that we’ve improved this year], because we’ve come from so far back,” he said.

“There are all these things that contribute to your inability to win the game.

“I’m not satisfied with where we are by any stretch of the imagination … it’s such a complex job trying to deal with all the issues and get better on a weekly basis, but clearly we’ve improved significantly.

Roos said his job was to make the club better, while he still believed in most of the players.

“It’s that belief that frustrates me. I believe in the players, but they don’t have that same belief in themselves and that’s probably the most frustrating thing for me as a coach,” he said.

“As a new coaching group coming in, we really believe in the playing group and we’re seeing some of the significant improvement.

“Some of the footy we’ve played this year has been really good, but how do you drop off in periods of the game, like you do for 10 minutes. I actually believe in them, but they don’t believe in themselves.”

Roos said wins such as the one the Lions had on the weekend builds belief, trust and confidence. But being on the receiving end can become like “survival mode”.

“We’ve had those discussions, but not in relation to what’s happened in the past, because that’s done and dusted,” he said.

“The reality is if you can’t improve your game – eventually you’ll drop off the senior list anyway.

“It’s not unique to the Melbourne footy club – every club is looking at every player, every week.”

Roos said this Saturday’s twilight clash against Hawthorn was set to be a tough challenge, but one he was eager to take on.

“The next four weeks is [all about] improving. We’re playing a very, very good side this week and it’s going to be a tough game, but that’s the reality of what footy is,” he said.

Roos said post-season the Demons needed to improve their list “a lot better”.

“Our list management strategy hasn’t changed,” he said.

“We want to progress as a football club. If that means taking whatever pick we have, we’ll take it. If that means we’ll trade it – we’ll trade it.”