SENIOR assistant coach Simon Goodwin says building momentum in the second half of this season will also form a critical part of Melbourne’s 2017 campaign.

Goodwin, who will take over from Paul Roos as senior coach at the end of this season, said consistency was not only critical for the rest of 2016, but also entering next season.

“We just want to continually improve as a footy club and as a footy team,” he told Melbourne TV.

“We’ve taken some giant strides so far this year, but we want to actually continue that build in the next nine weeks and see how far that takes us.

“Every week is important, but we really want to really finish this year off as strong as we can and we’ve got nine weeks to put our best footy on the park more consistently.”

Reflecting on the club’s recent mid-season review, Goodwin said there was some “pretty robust” discussion in relation to the latter part of 2016.  

“We wanted to really assess over a 13-week period where we were at and what we’ve been able to achieve and some of that was really positive,” he said.

“We certainly want to use the next nine weeks to get back playing more consistently.

“It’s probably an area we’ve got to keep working on and we’ve got to keep building our brand to a consistent level – that’s the real focus for the players and coaches.”

In terms of looking ahead to becoming senior coach next season, Goodwin said his focus was solely on the rest of 2016 at this stage.  

“I haven’t really thought about it too much,” he said.

“As a group of coaches, you’re working that hard from week to week at the moment and you’re just focusing on how we can become better over the next nine weeks.

“I’m looking forward to the role, but now my role is to help Roosy (Paul Roos) and generate a really strong footy team over a nine-week period.”