Just six weeks ago the Bulldogs took the points against a Paul Roos led Melbourne side and the Demons coach sees the return bout on Sunday as a measuring stick of their progress.

Despite just four wins apiece, Roos recognises the development and strides forward both teams have made and is excited to pit his team against a similarly evolved side again this weekend. 

“They (Bulldogs) had a great win against Collingwood two weeks ago… so I think both teams are improving,” he said.

“I think Brendan (McCartney) would be as frustrated as we are with the win loss but there’s no doubt I think the Bulldogs have improved significantly this year.

“They had a hiccup on the weekend but there were reasons for that, they have pushed most of the better teams and have been really competitive pretty much in every single game.

“They will be a better side than what they were five weeks ago and hopefully we are as well.”

Tom Liberatore’s best on ground performance guided the Bulldogs to an important win, while Stewart Crameri and Tom Williams were equally as important combining for seven goals.

The Bulldogs won the final term by 21 points to claim the four points and Roos said it was the Club’s ability to deal with the mounting pressure in the fourth quarter that was difference.

“I thought it was a really good game last time, I thought both teams played pretty well and I thought it was a high standard,” Roos said.

“Really the moments that counted in the last quarter they (Bulldogs) stood up and I thought that was probably the difference.

“We talked about that after the Bulldogs game and we had a couple of opportunities after that to win games, which one we did, one we didn’t - it’s all part of the learning curve.”