Simon Goodwin emerged from a 68,000-strong MCG arm wrestle with Hawthorn convinced his Melbourne side has belief, depth and a brand of football the competition cannot ignore. The Demons climbed to 7-3 with a contested twilight win over Sam Mitchell's Hawks, and Goodwin made no secret of why he loved it.
"I'm extremely proud," Goodwin said. "I'm very proud and honoured to coach that group of players. The game, you can make it as complex as you want. We talk about X's and O's a lot and our method, but at the end of the day you've got to roll your sleeves up and get to work and hunt. If our hunt's not at the level, then it's a harder game to play."
The coach lit up when asked about Sam Mitchell's post-match concession that Hawthorn had been out-hunted. "I think us as a footy club, where we're at, where we're coming from, the game demands a certain requirement in that area to at least compete," Goodwin said. "Our players, from a character and integrity point of view around rolling their sleeves up and just getting to work, there's a couple of individuals that probably set the tone and then the rest of the group just sort of follow suit."
Goodwin singled out Christian Petracca's selfless willingness to swing forward when Jack Gunston was unavailable. "Pets is a type of player that can play both ends," he explained. "I asked a couple of our defenders, CJ and Howsey, to play a bit taller, which gave us that flexibility. You sometimes worry as a coach are you stifling someone's momentum or growth, but Petracca is pretty selfless. He's happy to do what the team needs. He's a leader of our footy club."
Close to the contest, Goodwin reserved praise for Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow, Bayley Chandler and Harvey Sharp. "I thought even Harry Sharp, a couple of his contests today for the athlete that he is and the position he plays, to see the way he commits his body, even Daniel Turner down back driving through contests and taking territory."
Asked whether he dared to dream at 7-3, Goodwin pushed back at the framing. "In terms of daring to dream, I dare to dream that our players believe they can win every game they play in, and today was no different," he said. "Internally our perception is now we want to win every game of footy we play in. I don't think looking at our squad or our list at the moment in terms of how many games we've played or how young we are should impact the way the game goes."
The coach also doubled down on the brand he wants to be remembered for as he reflected on Melbourne's spike in crowd numbers. "I said from day one I wanted to be a team that could kick 100 points every game and challenge the opposition," Goodwin said. "I hope we're playing a brand of footy that even neutrals would come and watch and go, geez, that's exciting to watch. From my perspective, I want to be box office. I want our club to play on the big stage."
Melbourne next host the Western Bulldogs back at Marvel Stadium, with Goodwin warning his side cannot afford to drop intensity. "It gives us a good start to now just keep pushing ahead," he said. "We've got the Dogs again in a week's time, get back to Marvel, play another really high-quality team."
