YOU LITTLE beauty!

Any Roos fans who weren't at least a little moved after that win at the weekend must surely have ice in their veins. Certainly Dean Laidley wasn't afraid of showing his emotions, the coach's post-match interview giving a clear insight into how much the club's first win of 2007 meant to him and the boys.

No doubt a major source of the elation in the rooms after the game was that the club can finally see a return on its efforts. Despite the odd lapse, no one could have doubted the boys' work rate in the first three games of the season, so to let this one slip after another hard-fought display would have been particularly tough to take.

But you just got the sense halfway through that last term that the Lions were going to have to do something extraordinary to get past Laidley's men. Our boys had the air of a unit determined to finally get the reward they deserved after working so hard for not just the past three weeks, but also over a long and gruelling pre-season.

The tackling, chasing and spoiling efforts were signs of a team hell-bent on ensuring they weren't going to be ruing another that got away. The number of times a Kangaroos defender backed into oncoming traffic throughout the course of the match was another indication of the lengths they were prepared to go to get that elusive first win on the board.

But the win was achieved on so much more than grit. We saw a class performance from Daniel Wells, the undisputed leader of the Roos' silk department. His ball control in what were obviously trying conditions on a humid night on the Gold Coast was a treat to watch. His set-shot goal from 40 metres in the middle of a tight third term was the stuff of leaders.

There is little more that can be said of Hamish McIntosh's performance that hasn't been said already. Yet again, he was a class above any big man on the ground, even given the fact his opposite number, premiership ruckman Jamie Charman, won more hitouts on the night. The Roos bigman was a virtual extra midfielder, and appeared to be contesting hitouts in the back pocket one minute, and collecting a loose ball at half forward the next.

Small man Matty Campbell and forward Aaron Edwards also showed signs of being real acquisitions for the Kangas. Campbell's forward presence through his chasing and tackling was exceptional, while Edwards was tireless in presenting a moving option for the ball carriers further afield. If he can get a few of those marks to stick, watch out!

Special mention should also be made of the way the backline gelled on Saturday night. With Drew Petrie, the club's defensive rock since half-way through last year, needed elsewhere to cover for the absence of David Hale, the concern was that the defence might have been stretched against the might of Jonathon Brown and co.

But Shannon Watt, Josh Gibson, Michael Firrito and Daniel Pratt combined well to continually stymie the Lions' attacking forays, keeping the Lions to just eight goals for the match. Jess Sinclair meanwhile added more class and poise to a developing defensive unit.

Next week it's off to Skilled Stadium to face Mark Thompson's up-and-down Geelong. The Cats will be furious they let their game with the Hawks slip through their claws at the weekend and will be keen to bounce back against the Kangaroos.