COACH Simon Goodwin says last year’s round 22 loss to Carlton has no bearing on this Sunday’s clash against the Blues at the MCG.

Goodwin said the 2017 red and blue team was all about creating its own destiny and not looking in the past.

“I spoke about this last week [leading up to the St Kilda match]. The history for us is irrelevant,” he said at AAMI Park on Thursday.

“We want to create our own journey and pathway forward.

“Our challenge as a group is to play the brand of footy we want to play every week. That challenge comes again this week. We played it well last week. Can we do it again? I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

Reflecting on Melbourne’s 30-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round one, Goodwin said he was “really proud” of his team’s ability to fight back with a calm, measured approach after trailing by 23 points at quarter-time.

“We’ve still got a lot to work on and we’re still building the style of play that we want to play,” he said.

“Our challenge as a group is to consistently do it week after week and I know that’s what the team is really keen to do.”

Goodwin said he was delighted with midfielder Clayton Oliver’s development, who was outstanding with a career-best 36 disposals against St Kilda.

“He’s an exciting player. What he’s been able to do in 12 to 18 months of footy is really incredible,” he said.

“His work around the contest is as good as I’ve seen.

“He’s no different to any other player. He’s still developing and he’s still growing his game, both physically and mentally – how he can handle the demands of the game. But we’re seeing a guy that’s starting to really understand what it takes to play consistent footy.”

Goodwin added that Billy Stretch and Alex Neal-Bullen were two other players making genuine progress.

“They’re third-year players still developing their game. Alex had a terrific summer after an indifferent year last year,” he said.

“He’s come in this summer and really set his season up with the way he’s trained and the way he’s approached his footy. I’m absolutely rapt with how he played on the weekend.

“Billy is no different. He’s got really high standards and great habits around the footy club and has worked really hard on his contested footy and his game’s in good shape.”