Third AFL coach splits from wife after gruelling 2020

Simon Goodwin is the third AFL coach to split with their partner — but the couple made an unexpected appearance together.

Simon and Maggie Goodwin in 2017. Picture Dean Martin

Melbourne Football Club coach Simon Goodwin has split from his wife.

Goodwin, appointed senior coach of the Demons at the end of 2016, and his wife Maggie are understood to have separated at least three months ago.

The break up is believed to be amicable with the pair both being in attendance at a wedding in South Australia over the new year period.

The Goodwins married in 2005 and have three adolescent children.

The split makes Goodwin the third AFL coach to have their marriage end in 2020.

The former couple at an Adelaide event in 2015. Picture: Noelle Bobrige

A young Maggie and Simon Goodwin.

In early December, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley and his wife Tania confirmed they had separated with their split actually taking place back in January 2020.

In mid December it was confirmed that Richmond coach Damien Hardwick had split from his wife Danielle.

Days later it emerged that Hardwick was now in a relationship with Alexandra Crow, an employee in the Richmond corporate sales team.

AFL coaches or former coaches have made plenty of headlines for challenges and upheavals in their personal lives in recent months.

North Melbourne’s Rhyce Shaw left his coveted senior coaching position at the end of the 2020 season to deal with private health issues.

It is not clear if the AFL hub situation was a factor in the Goodwin split.

Simon Goodwin in action coaching the Demons. Picture: Getty Images

Goodwin played 275 games for the Adelaide Football Club from 1997 until 2010, was part of the Crows premiership teams in 1997 and 1998 and was club captain from 2008 to 2010.

After a couple of years as part of the Essendon coaching team he joined Melbourne in 2014 as an assistant coach and was appointed senior coach in late 2016.

In a media interview following the announcement of his elevation to senior coach, Goodwin said he owed his success to his wife, Maggie.

“We’ve been together for a long time, since we were 19,” he said in September 2016.

“She’s supported me through all of the challenges in my life. We live in a really selfish industry in a lot of ways, especially as a player and also now as a coach.

“It’s such a selfish industry and she’s had to sustain a lot, and she’s pulled me into line when she’s needed to — I’ve needed that a few times that’s for sure.”

[e-mail]