AT THE half-way mark of the season, senior coach Simon Goodwin reflects on the season so far. He talks about the players he’s seen improved, the club’s best win to date and what his aims are for the rest of the 2017 season …

The first 10 rounds

Melbourne has a 5-5 win/loss record after 10 rounds. It has an average winning margin of 33.2 points and an average losing margin of just 12.2 points.

Goodwin said the start of the season has had some challenges, but one that will only help the team become better in the long run.

“It’s been an interesting first half of the year – there’s no doubt about that,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“For the club, we’ve faced a lot of challenges, with injuries, suspensions and some personnel issues that have gone through the footy club.

“It’s been a great growing and learning experience, so to be five [wins] and five [losses] – I think we’ve learned a lot about each other and a lot about the team. We’ve continued to improve in a whole range of areas and we’ve given ourselves an opportunity to push hard in the second half of the year.”

The second half of the season

Goodwin said the club had a great opportunity to keep building in the second half of the season.

“I’ve spoken to the players at length about the team that continues to improve throughout the season will be the teams that have the most success come the end of the year – and we’re no different to that,” he said.

“As a football department and as a coaching staff and as playing group – we have to find ways to continue to improve as the year goes on.

“I’m really confident with what we’ve gone through and the way that we’re developing, we’ll continue to see improvements as the year goes.”

Who’s impressed?

Goodwin said there had “been lots” of players to stand out so far this year and the whole list had showed signs of improvement. 

“I think when you go through some adversity with some personnel, you find some things and I’ve been rapt to see Sam Frost really start to develop as a key defender,” he said. 

“He’s been given the opportunity to lock away some key forwards in recent weeks and he’s really developed, like some of our younger players – Jayden Hunt, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver – they’ve all taken their games to new levels.

“Jeff Garlett, as a small forward, I think he puts the most pressure on of any small forward in the competition and he’s kicked 25 goals. And Cam Pedersen has come in, under adversity, and played in the ruck, as has Tom McDonald and they’ve really stood up for us, when the team’s needed them.”

Best win/most disappointing loss

Goodwin was in no doubt what his side’s best win has been so far, but he took another perspective on how he graded the losses.

“Without question, our best win’s been Adelaide in Adelaide. The way that we played was the brand of footy that we want to play consistently. The challenge of playing a fantastic footy team on their home soil – and to come away with the way that we played – was exceptional. So, that’s clearly been our best win,” he said.

“In terms of our worst loss, I don’t really look at our losses in that form. I look at what we’ve actually learnt through those experiences and all of those games that we’ve lost in terms of Hawthorn, Fremantle and North Melbourne, I think we’ve learnt things and we’ll continue to grow from those things.

“I think that’ll help us long term to be the team that we want to become.”

Meeting expectations so far?

Goodwin said his expectations coming into the year was to improve and develop the team.  

“You look at some of our key statistics that we go through – and we’ve improved. Have the wins spanned where we want them to be? The results have been the results, but key statistics show that we’re in good shape,” he said.

“The development of our playing group is saying we’re in good shape. What we’ve had to deal with as a footy club – with adversity, injuries, suspensions and close games is something that all teams go through.

“We’re five [wins] and five [losses] and I think we’ve set ourselves up to have a real tilt and crack at the last half of the year.”

First season as senior coach

Goodwin said there were “always surprises as senior coach” but he had loved every minute of his role since taking over the mantle from Paul Roos.

“There’s no doubt that you want to have continuity in the way you play, continuity in your victories and continuity in your playing personnel,” he said. 

“We’ve had challenges in all of that, but with that, there has become great learning for myself personally, but also for the coaching staff.

“I’ve seen all of our staff in our department grow through the last 10 weeks and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve loved the support they’ve given me and I’ve loved the support the whole footy department has given me.

“I’m just rapt to have great people working here.”

Mid-season break

Even the coaches need a brether and Goodwin is heading back to his native state for a quick getaway, as he explained.

“I get a little bit of a break. I’m taking four days [off] and heading fishing at Kangaroo Island – a bit of a father/son trip, with my dad, myself and my little fella. We will head off and see if we can catch some King George whiting,” he said.