A TOTAL of 79 hit outs to 37, including a whopping 60 to Giant ruckman Shane Mumford, proved critical in GWS’ 32-point win over Melbourne at Spotless Stadium on Sunday, according to coach Paul Roos.

Roos, who coached Mumford in his final year at the Swans in 2010, said the 2012 premiership player’s work in the middle of the ground was too much for the Demons to handle.

“You get a big push with Mummy in the ruck and getting 60 hit outs, it makes it a lot easier for the mids around the stoppage, and Shawry (Heath Shaw) and [Josh] Hunt organising down back,” he said post-match.

Although Roos said “it was always going to be a slog with the rain”, he said the Giants didn’t give the Demons any time or space throughout the match.

“That’s what AFL footy is – you’ve got to tackle and they tackled really well,” he said.

“We tackled 45 times less – I can’t break down every single tackle – but certainly, it looked to me, without seeing the numbers that they were tackling a lot better than we were.”

Roos said GWS’ persistence paid off in the end, when Melbourne was a genuine chance to win its first match of the season early in the final term.

“In the end, in those slippery conditions, with a couple of late goals – to their (GWS) credit they kept on working and we dropped off,” he said.

“Other than the tackles and the stoppages, which continued throughout the whole game, they kicked a couple of good goals late and that blew the margin out a bit.”

Roos, who coached from the interchange, said there was “definitely an advantage being down on the bench and trying to keep the players’ enthusiasm up” when the team was struggling.

“Not winning doesn’t help, so that’s a big part of [me] being down there – trying to teach hands on, and we’ve got some good experience in the coaches’ box,” he said.

“It’s a gives [the players] an opportunity to get hands on coaching on the bench, but we’ve also got some good eyes and ears in the box.”