COACH Paul Roos was quick to praise the Sydney Swans’ opponents, after the Kangaroos won a pulsating match at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

Defender Kieren Jack earned praise from Roos for his AFL debut, but at the other end of the experience scale, Nick Davis had a night to forget.

In his 150th game, the forward only had three handballs.

Roos was also nonplussed with several centre bounces that almost went sideways, saying the umpires should have thrown the ball up.

"Are they clearances? I thought the umpires got a few clearances tonight," he joked.

"Generally people have been calling for the ball to be balled up - I don't want to make it a big issue to take the focus off the Kangaroos.

"I just think if the umpires are struggling, you throw it up - it's not a big deal."

After struggling against Kangaroos full-back Michael Firrito in the first half, Sydney Swans key forward Barry Hall kicked four goals after half time, including three in the pulsating final term.

Roos said Hall's night summed up how the Swans went overall.

"It probably just typified us as a team, really - the fact that early on, they put a lot of pressure on us all over the field," Roos said.

"Clearly they were on top of us in the first half and then - like Hally, the same as the team - Hally was fantastic in the second half and fantastic in the last quarter.

"But they win the game and they deserve to win the game, I'm sure Hally would be disappointed we lost."

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.