Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he will not address the growing hype surrounding his team with the players after they reclaimed top spot on the AFL ladder at the halfway point of the season.
The Demons were ruthless in a 28-point dismantling of the Western Bulldogs in a top-of-the-table clash on Friday night to reaffirm their premiership credentials.
External discussion in the coming days will no doubt centre on the Dees’ bid to end a 57-year flag drought, but Goodwin said that is the furthest thing from his players’ minds.
“This group has been sensational at just resetting and dealing with each week as it comes their way,” Goodwin said.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
“I know from the supporters’ perspective it’s brilliant what the boys are doing and I’m sure our supporters are incredibly excited, and so they should be.
“But we’ve still got a lot of improving to do as a side in the second half of the year to be the team that we want to be and to execute when it really matters.
“That’s our sole focus – to reset every week and make sure we continue to improve as the year goes on.”
Melbourne beat the Bulldogs despite the fixture almost not going ahead after they were forced to undergo COVID-19 testing and isolate in the 48 hours before the game, which was given the green light on Friday morning.
The entire league faces more uncertainty around the schedule as Victoria grapples with its latest coronavirus outbreak.
The Demons are scheduled to take on Brisbane in Alice Springs next Friday night, but that fixture is likely to be rescheduled.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty around what that looks like,” Goodwin said.
“We all sit here in Victoria and pray that we get on top of COVID and we can reel this thing in, but from a footy perspective we don’t know and we’re okay in that space.
“We’ll deal with whatever comes our way and we’ll just move forward and prepare as best we can.”
Goodwin confirmed Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon will miss at least one match because of concussion suffered late in the win over the Bulldogs.
Langdon will serve a minimum 12 days on the sidelines and could return in the Queen’s Birthday clash with Collingwood.
RooBoy18
Roar Rookie
Bulldogs ended their drought in 2016 then Tigers did it in 2017. Would be great to see Melbourne finally do it this year. That will give the Saints hope in 2022.
Micko
Roar Rookie
What's grog got to do with anything??
berrlins
Roar Pro
full respect to the Demons, they really shut down the ball movement of the Dogs and forced some dodgey turn overs. The Dogs were off from the get go and I reckon it was because of how quickly Melbourne moved forward and stunned them. As a Dogs supporter I am not overly concerned. I think we can get them in the return game, but they'll have to fix up their I50 entries and stop kicking haphazardly down the line, If you kick along the boundary against Melbourne you are just giving Max Gawn or the other Melbourne talls a free stat.
Seymorebutts
Guest
Interesting isnt it... the Eagles have looked miles of it since Mitchel left, Im starting to think they are wasting their time with Simpson... If you take out 2018 what has he achieved? A grand final were we got flogged on the back of an easy draw, and apart from that its been anywhere from 6-8.. with the talent he has had at his disposal its not good enough. We have the best forward line we have ever had.. the backline stacks up well with any of our premiership eras, the midfield potentially stacks up with some of those earlier eras (granted, Shuey and Yeo being out doesnt help).... but they still have Kelly, Naitanui, Gaff, Sheed, and Redden, thats a pretty good group regardless of the injuries we have had. Yet we've lost to GWS and Saint Kilda???, Two sides who have been thrashed by the top echelon. We already saw what happened against Geelong... Im genuinely worried now at what Melbourne or Brisbane will do to us. If we get wiped like that again the board need to issue Simpson a ''please explain '' letter, if he cant win a flag this year he never will... and it will be time to look for a new coach to oversee a rebuild.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
It’s more a question of what you can do to staunch the bleeding of players you don’t want to end up in a situation like north where they delisted eleven players.
Seymorebutts
Guest
I think the big thing for me is Oliver... all the other names have been around and playing well for a while, Petracca has taken it to a new level, granted, but I honestly wouldnt have been able to tell you which one was Oliver out of a lineup if my life depended on it. The guy is killing it now, I guess he must have given up on the grog or something ;]
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Chuck in 3 years 3/4 of the team will have retired, can you recruit 28 players in one season?
Blitz
Guest
Mark Williams is the icing on the cake. Super passionate and it’s infectious.
Gatto Nero
Roar Rookie
Wells has returned.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Yeah fair I think the cats have cooked it but you won’t know for about two to three years.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
2018 they obviously had a very good year but we're smashed and out muscled by Eagles in prelim. Since then they have recruited May and Lever as key pillars in defence. 2019 they started the year with a heap of injuries and could not gain much momentum for the year. 2020 - maybe covid was a factor or still psychology scarred from Eagles and 2019? 2021 - I think their bodies are essentially maturing, peaking, hardening up. Petracka and Oliver are now elite midfield bulls. Gawn is an excellent, smart, strong ruckman and leader in his prime. Tom McDonald has rediscovered his mojo from 2018. Jackson and Picket have really brought something to the club this year. They're gelling as a team after a couple of years together, and maybe it's taken a while for the coaching staff to find their feet. Long way to go but they're looking good.
DarwinDee
Guest
Injuries in 2019 pre season meant that they started on the back foot - everytime a player returned to the side they were way underdone. 2020 Melbourne recruited Darren Burgess as fitness coach and set about making sure in pre season they would peak around August/September- because we lost 12 mins per game plus 5 games off the end of the season we wernt able to run over teams as planned. Also since 2018/19 we have added Pickett, Jackson and Rivers... all now very important dogs in the machine.
Windrince
Roar Rookie
Which is why I'm worried about the cats following the departure of most of our recruiting team
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
Yep. It's always about the cattle. The recruitment people are the most important people at a footy club, followed by the development coaches.
Seymorebutts
Guest
Im hoping someone writes an article how the Dees went from being pretty good in 2018, to sucking in 2019 and 20 to now being premiership favorites. Did they just have a bad run with injuries? Simon Goodwin has gone from being one of those coaches whose job is in trouble to being coach of the year. Remarkable turnaround, good for them.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I’m confused Goodwin is a bad coach and Clarkson is a good coach? —— Maybe Chappelli was right when he said, sim-same, a coach is a transport vehicle with 45 seats.