NATHAN Jones says it was important to soak up Saturday’s win over Hawthorn at the MCG, although he added that the team has already started to focus on this Saturday’s clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Jones said “it was good to enjoy the moment, particularly in the rooms after the game”.  

“The players were happy and it was a huge step in the right direction for us,” he said at AAMI Park on Monday.

“It was a pretty significant one in our journey. We’re such a young group … so it was very promising.”

Jones said he didn’t need any reminders that it had been 10 years since Melbourne defeated Hawthorn.

“The last time we won was in my first season and I wasn’t actually playing in the team. It was early 2006 and I’ve played in every loss since then,” he said.

“It’s not something I’ve thought about and the team has changed a lot, but for me having experienced that, I was desperate to get one over them. I was disappointed we couldn’t get the result earlier in the year, as I felt we played really well against them.

“We learned from the errors we made that day and found ourselves in a similar position on the weekend – but we were able to execute and that was a promising sign, and it shows improvement in our group.”

Jones said he hoped the Hawthorn win and the recent patch of form was something Melbourne could reflect on down the track as a turning point for the club.

“[Hopefully] it’s something we can hang our improvement on and something that we can look back on and say ‘this was the time against the Hawks in 2016 when Melbourne really came to the fore and got their game together and were able to knock off the top team’,” he said.

“I haven’t been involved in a win like that and hopefully it’s something that drives us to become great, which is what we’re striving to be and it pushes us to greater levels over the next couple of years.”