MELBOURNE and Greater Western Sydney could conceivably be in a Grand Final in three years, Demons coach Paul Roos says. 



The Demons finished 13th in 2015, while the Giants were two spots above them.

GWS looked on track for finals when sitting 7-3, but a spate of injuries, including to ruckman Shane Mumford, ruined its season.

Roos said expansion clubs GWS and Gold Coast would rise at a similar time to the Demons. 



"I don't want to say there's a rivalry, but there's going to be a competition between Melbourne, the Giants and the Suns for a long period of time," Roos said. 



"We think Gold Coast and the Giants have got good young lists. We're probably similar ourselves.

"It's probably, 'Are we up to where [the Giants are] at?'

"Previously, even though we beat them in round 23 [last year], we've been a little bit behind them with our development.

"It's going to be great to see the Giants play Melbourne for the next 10 years. 



"In an ideal world, you might see Melbourne playing the Giants for a premiership in the next three to five years."



Roos said the development of his team meant the players could take a more advanced look at the opposition, rather than purely focusing on their own game-plan.

The 2005 Sydney Swans premiership coach is in his final year as Melbourne coach, with Simon Goodwin to take over at the end of the season.

"We'll certainly spend a lot more time on the opposition than we have in the past two years, because that's part of the process about getting your players' confidence in what you're doing," Roos said.

"We'll pick two or three things of the opposition we might want to take away."

The pre-season saw Roos becoming more involved in building the club's culture while Goodwin took greater control of the day-to-day tasks.

Roos said that essentially he spent his time ensuring the players were operating at the standards required.

"We've worked a lot on [culture] over the last couple of years, but we've probably tried to drill down on it more this year, so players have a greater understanding of how you actually have to perform on game day."