The Roos have been stuck in the finals wilderness since they last made the top-five in 2010.

However, coach Darren Holmes has been able to spark a major turnaround with the Roos one of the most improved sides in the competition and a legitimate finals contender.

Amazingly, the Roos could have easily won by more than 100 points after some wayward kicking in their 19.27 (141) to 10.6 (66) touch-up of the Tigers.

Ben McIntosh, Josh Garland and Bryce Rafferty were the cornerstones of the impressive win.

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Holmes said it was satisfying to show the competition what the Roos were capable of this season.

"Our focus in the early rounds hasn't been on who we are playing but what we can achieve," Holmes said.

"I believe our best footy will be competitive against the best and win us games and that has been the focus.

"I'm not being disrespectful to any of the opposition but that's our belief.

"We did our homework in regards to match-ups and it's probably no secret that Josh Spence and Cameron McNeill are their two biggest match-winners.

"I think it's fair to say it is the club's most significant win for a long time and I won't play that down.

"But I won't hide from our past either and for a long time we have under-performed.

"We have got a good mix of experienced players and youth and I hoping we get a bit of confidence out of the win.

"But this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon and there is a long road ahead."

McIntosh was handed the unenviable task of curbing Spence.

The Roos defender kept Spence to one goal in a best-on-ground display.

Holmes praised the attitude of McIntosh.

"To Ben's credit he asked me if he could play on Spence and thrived on the challenge," he said.

"We knew if you gave Spence any space he can hurt you and turn the match fairly quickly.

"But Ben remained disciplined and kept him to one goal.

"We were also mindful of McNeill in the midfield but decided against going with a hard tag.

"To kick 19 goals was pleasing and we had a good spread of goalkickers.

"Kicking 27 points was disappointing though and we will put some work into that at training in the coming weeks."

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