COACH Paul Roos has praised tall forward Jack Watts’ season, saying the much-talked about Demon has been a strong performer in 2014.

Roos said Watts’ level of consistency and compliance with the roles had been features of his game this year.

“He just happens to be one of those guys [that people talk about]. ‘Bomber’ (Mark Thompson) talked about it last night [on AFL 360]. Bomber’s got [Jake] Carlisle, [Adam] Simpson’s got [Nic] Naitanui, ‘Horse’ (John Longmire) has probably got [Lance] Franklin and Rossy [Lyon] has got [Hayden] Ballantyne – you pick one at each club,” he said.

“We as coaches don’t really focus on individuals apart from trying to make them all better and how they’ve gone in the context of the game themselves.

“I think Wattsy’s season has been really, really good so far, in terms of consistency and probably like a lot of other guys on the weekend. That’s where it’s difficult, because you have poor team performance, everyone on the team suffers and it was hard to find a good Melbourne player on the weekend.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Roos said it was all about “getting back on the horse again” after two big losses to top four teams Fremantle and Geelong.

“We’ve had two [big losses] in a row now, which isn’t great, but we’ve got to remind ourselves how we play our best footy and we played pretty well against Port [in Alice Springs in round 11], but we understand they’re a fantastic team,” he said.

“They’ve lost four [of their past five matches], so they’re going to be roaring out in Adelaide on the weekend. We just need to play our best footy every single week and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against and every week is a huge challenge for us. That’s another one we’ve got this week.”

Roos said Port Adelaide, which has won one of its past four matches, hadn’t played poor football in recent times. Instead, he said the Power’s opponents hadn’t been easy in recent weeks. 

“Richmond played no question their best game [for the season] on the weekend and Essendon have come into some good form and Sydney is on top of the ladder and has only lost three games.”

“Richmond played exceptionally well, but Port almost came back and won the game, so they’re still playing really, really good football.

“They nearly beat Sydney up in Sydney, so in pure black and white wins and losses, they’ve (Port Adelaide) won one and lost four, but I think they’ve played some exceptional football in that time.”

Roos said the final six rounds were an important period for the Demons and he was determined to keep his charges working towards the future and forgetting the past. 

“We try not to dwell on the past now. There’s going to be some things that come up at different times, because it’s been a tough time at the footy club, so there’s no skirting away from it,” he said.

“It’s the balance between addressing it and just continuing to move forward. Hopefully, between now and the end of the year, we’ll get some more positive responses from the players and we’ll play some good footy.

“Then we’ll get into pre-season and what’s happened in the past is further away, so that’s all you can really do. This week, we’ll address what we want to do against Port and what we’ll do as a footy club, rather than worrying too much about what’s happened in the past.”

Roos said ruckman Max Gawn’s remarkable 87-hit out performance for Casey against Bendigo Gold on the weekend was a strong effort, but it didn’t guarantee him a recall.

“[It] depends on how big the ruckman is that you’re hitting them against. If I had 80 hit outs and I was playing Auskick, probably not,” he said with a laugh.

“I think it’s one of those things, stats are misleading … and that’s no disrespect to [Gawn].

“It’s where the hit outs go and who it’s against and it’s what you do around the ground. I think Max’s game was a pretty good game.”