Embattled Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin is adamant he feels “incredibly supported” by the club’s board in the wake of his team’s history-making loss to St Kilda and was unmoved by a social media threat.
While admitting his players “got it wrong” in the panicked final few moments, Goodwin said there was no breakdown in trust and the lessons would help them “grow”.
The Demons coughed up a 46-point three-quarter-time lead to lose to the Saints after the siren, conceding two goals in the last 10 seconds of the game due to a 6-6-6 violation at the final centre bounce.
On Monday, Goodwin made a scheduled appearance before the club’s board but downplayed his presentation, calling it “a standard board meeting around strategy”, before vowing he has the full support of the club’s powerbrokers.
“We’re all very aligned about the process of where we need to go to, what we need to create success,” Goodwin said.
“We always knew that in this transition period that there would be challenges, our job is not to get consumed with the noise.
“Our job is to go about the process … these conversations are ongoing and we’re really clear about the strategy. I feel incredibly supported by the board, I have for nine years.
“I’ve been able to go through these challenges before with clarity and strength and stability to create success; 2019 we finished second last, two years later we won the flag.
“You can’t get consumed in noise, all you can do is be clear with your strategy, clear with your process, understand challenge, be clear about it and go about the process to build the next great team – I feel incredibly supported by the board.”
In the aftermath of the loss, Goodwin was subjected to a hoax threat made against him by a troll account on X that was investigated by the AFL’s Integrity Unit and remains in the hands of Victoria Police.
But it’s not something he wanted to concern himself with, instead focusing on his team’s challenges.
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“You clearly hear about it … your family hears about it, that’s for sure,” Goodwin said.
“That’s in the hands of the AFL and the police … clearly, we don’t want to see that in our game, but I don’t want to make that the focus of today.
“They have been (Victoria Police has been investigating), I think that’s under control, so there’s no issues from my end.”
Melbourne is ninth with just six wins despite boasting one of the most decorated midfield lines in the competition.
The Demons have a chance to improve to seven wins against cellar-dweller West Coast Eagles at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
A loss would eclipse the cosmic disaster of last weekend, but Goodwin denied the commentary that he was coaching for his future.
“That would be me getting consumed in noise and that’s not what I am about,” he said.
“That’s not what we’re about; we’re about the consistency of what’s going to create success.
“We get another opportunity against a football club this week to show – not talk – show what we’re about and that’s the focus this week.”
Melbourne forwent its first-round pick this year to bring in both Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay.
Essendon is now tied with the Demons’ first selection at the national draft.
While Goodwin insists the Demons are trending in the right direction, he concedes the step backwards to move forward has been larger than anticipated.
“Our fans, our supporters and our players are hurting because of the results, but if you purely look at results, you probably get consumed in the wrong things,” he said.
“If you look deeper into some of the transition that is taking place, there is a lot of positive that’s going on as well.
“We all get consumed in results and I’m sure our fans do and our supporters do; our job is to coach the process, coach the strategy and know the results will come.
“We’re really clear and really confident about the build and where we’re going with that, those results will turn.”
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