How Simon Goodwin’s game plan switch has kept Melbourne alive

Melbourne returned back to the top eight by throwing out a promise made to supporters last year. Here’s how Simon Goodwin has kept the season alive ahead of a tough run home.

The Dees are still alive in the finals hunt. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

The smiles in the rooms last Saturday night told the story – the Demons felt they were back.

A bruising win in the wet over Essendon, in which Melbourne simply played tougher and smarter footy, showed the players they had rediscovered what made them so hard to beat in the last four years.

The Dees have felt since round 17 – a five point loss to Brisbane at the Gabba – they have been playing their own football again.

“Result aside, the last three weeks, the Brisbane, West Coast game and now (the Essendon win), if you watch Melbourne play it looks like the Melbourne team that supporters have come to know,” returned forward Jake Melksham said.

“We’re super confident with where we are at and where our game is at and we are looking forward to what is to come.”

Melksham is right in more ways than one.

Simon Goodwin has gone back to what worked. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

The Demons have cracked in and found the toughness that bullied sides during recent home-and-away seasons and they have also slid back to the game plan that worked so well over that time.

Addressing members at the end of last season, coach Simon Goodwin said the Melbourne game plan would be unpacked to score more.

“We are looking for one goal. One goal a game takes us from sixth to first, the best offensive team,” he said in December.

Defensive coach Troy Chaplin was given a new remit and told to look after transition offence, in a bid to cut angles with the ball more, pick up more marks and attack with finesse.

It didn’t work.

The Demons averaged 90.4 points per game and ranked sixth last year but so far in 2024, they sit 13th in the league, with an average of 79.5 points, having lost almost two goals.

After a crushing 92-point loss against Fremantle in round 13, the new style was jettisoned and Goodwin has reverted back to old.

In the last five rounds, no club has kicked the ball long down the line more than Melbourne, and the Demons rank first in both contested possession and ground ball differential.

In short, the Dees are kicking to contests and then winning those contests.

Having trailed for much of the first quarter against the Bombers, the Demons simplified things even more.

“In the second quarter we just focused on bringing the ball to ground as forwards and its funny when you bring strong contests what happens to your game,” Melksham said.

That down-the-line method has been so successful for Melbourne in recent years because it has allowed Steven May and Jake Lever to set themselves up in defence and choke the opposition.

Since the Dockers loss, Melbourne has been the toughest side to score against per inside 50s and have conceded the second-least amount of points.

Injuries and unavailabilities have piled up in recent weeks, with Max Gawn and Christian Petracca sidelined, while Angus Brayshaw is not coming back.

Koltyn Tholstrup is getting valuable gametime. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

But in this tough patch, Goodwin has managed to find gametime for young players like Daniel Turner, Koltyn Tholstrup and Andy Moniz-Wakefield, who each contributed against Essendon.

Caleb Windsor and Judd McVee are now no-brainer best-22 players and Trent Rivers has stepped up in a big way to fill the midfield void.

So Goodwin made things simple and the Dees have won three of their last four games.

How sustainable this winning is will be tested on the run home.

And if Melbourne is good enough to get there, these Demons haven’t stood up to finals in the past two years.

No other club faces the same gauntlet as Melbourne, with games against sides still in the finals hunt every week until September.

Melbourne walked away from that round 13 Alice Springs smashing embarrassed and will get a chance to earn back some respect in Perth on Sunday.

Following that trip, Melbourne faces GWS (MCG), Western Bulldogs (Marvel Stadium), Port Adelaide (MCG), Gold Coast (People First Stadium) and a final round heavyweight fight against Collingwood (MCG).

Melbourne needs to win at least three of its final six games to make finals and it could all come down to that last one against the Pies.