SIMON Goodwin says he’s excited by the prospect of Angus Brayshaw and Christian Petracca playing more game time together for the rest of the season.

The talented young duo played their first AFL match with each against St Kilda last round and although Melbourne went down by six goals at Etihad Stadium, Brayshaw had 23 touches and Brayshaw collected 19 disposals and kicked a couple of goals.

Goodwin said the rest of the season was an important period for the duo. 

“It was great to see him (Brayshaw) back out there [after battling concussion issues for much of the season]. He certainly looked a lot better than what he did earlier in the year and he’s put a lot of work into his game,” he told Melbourne TV.

“He still made a few blues, but it was a good game to get out of his system and I can see him getting better for the rest of the year, moving forward.”

“I thought he (Petracca) was going to kick four or five on the day, but he’s getting better and better every week and he’s doing more little things that we’re asking of him. Some of his defensive pressure as well was outstanding.”

With Goodwin set to take over as senior coach next year, he said his focus for the remaining six rounds was to help the side notch up as many wins as possible and keep building the momentum into 2017.

“I’m excited – there’s no doubt. The journey that we’ve been on this year – you can see the exciting list that’s starting to emerge and the talent we’ve got here,” he said.

“It’s now harnessing that and bringing an environment to let it grow and I’m excited about that journey ahead.

“[I’m] really just developing our players as best as we can and really maximising the time that we’ve got with them now.

“It’s an important six weeks for the footy club to keep progressing forward and I’ll try and win as many games as we possibly can. I’m really focused on that solely and we’ll worry about the rest of it after.”