The making of Simon Goodwin — the SA coach who has led Melbourne back to the AFL finals

WHEN Simon Goodwin was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame last year, he revealed the major driving force throughout his entire career was to prove people wrong.

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SHANE Reardon was coaching South Adelaide’s under-19s in 1994 when he made a decision that Simon Goodwin hasn’t let him forget.

“He missed a lot of our pre-season with a back injury and famously, as Simon has pointed out to me, I didn’t pick him for the first six games,” Reardon recalls.

But when Reardon came to his senses he realised pretty quickly that Goodwin could play.

The youngster settled into South Adelaide’s defence, played full back in the grand final and the Panthers won the flag.

“You see kids fumble the footy but he didn’t, he was so clean, he could use the ball and had a lot of courage,” Reardon said.

Jack Viney of the Demons speaks to head coach Simon Goodwin during a Melbourne training session at Gosch's Paddock on Tuesday. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

When Goodwin was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame last year, he revealed the major driving force throughout his entire career was to prove people wrong.

From those who told him he was too small to play AFL footy in his early teens to those making decisions in the first six weeks of his under-19 season at South Adelaide, when he couldn’t even get a game.

Goodwin grew up in Thomas St, Clarence Gardens, where he would kick a pair of rolled-up socks down the hallway and between a tree and a Stobie pole out the front.

He describes himself as a small kid “four-foot-two” who couldn’t get a kick but he worked as hard as he could to get the most out of himself … which sometimes bordered on obsessive.

“Throughout my whole career it was really to prove people wrong, that was when I was at my best, when someone said you can’t do something,” Goodwin said.

He has never forgotten when he made his first All-Australian team in 2000 and it was met with the headline: “Simon Who?”

“I wanted to continue to prove people wrong, I was never satisfied,” he said.

Small in stature but big on talent, Goodwin was a handy left-arm medium pace bowler who made the under-19 state cricket team and dreamt of playing Sheffield Shield and Test cricket. But he would also fall asleep with a Sherrin, dreaming of playing AFL.

“He was a smallish lad who had big feet, and I remember saying to myself ‘he’s going to grow into a nice size because his old man Terry was 5ft 10’,” Goodwin’s under-17 coach Ken Applegarth said.

“And the thing that impressed me was his determination and work ethic. You put up what it was and he ate it up and spat it out.”

Having settled on football, Goodwin played league and reserves with the Panthers in 1995, which was when he was drafted by Adelaide, as then football manager John Reid told him “your cricket days are done, son”.

Goodwin in his early playing days with Adelaide. He went on to play 275 games and be part of two premierships.

In a whirlwind start to his career, he played in an AFL premiership in just his 10th game, in 1997, and in back-to-back flags in his 31st, in 1998.

He played 275 games, made five All-Australian teams, won two Showdown Medals and captained the club under coach Neil Craig from 2008-2010, a period in which he showed early signs of being a coach-in-waiting.

Craig believes Goodwin’s life experience — making mistakes and learning from them — has prepared him perfectly for senior coaching.

“Because it’s not just footy, it’s about people’s lives and the way they think, feel and act,” he said.

Craig had three captains under his tenure, Goodwin, Mark Ricciuto and Nathan van Berlo.

Crows captain Simon Goodwin announces his intention to retire at the end of the 2010 season, flanked by coach Neil Craig. Picture: Ray Titus

“All outstanding people, all different and high-quality leaders,” he said.

“The thing I enjoyed about Simon was he understood the responsibility of a captain in terms of his own individual role modelling, performance on the field, capacity to recognise scenarios on the field and say ‘yeah I’m the captain and I’ll do my bit but there is also an expectation on my teammates that you need to stand up as well’.

“He would make sure that expectation was clearly understood and would lead the way, but there was an expectation that he would not do it all himself and it would be very poor if he did.

“That is the ultimate package leader — to lead yourself, to lead others and a situation then you’ve got a really powerful captain.”

One day in the 2010 season, Goodwin was walking his dog when he knocked on Craig’s door and told him it was time to retire while he still had something left in the tank.

“Physically could he keep going? Probably. But I also remember him talking about the mental capacity and psychology of still playing and at a high level,” Craig said.

“It was a long conversation and in depth but in the end Simon made the best decision for himself because he had to play and not me.”

Goodwin immediately joined Essendon as an assistant coach under James Hird and in 2014 signed a five-year contract with Melbourne to later succeed Paul Roos as senior coach.

Roos helped pick his own successor and remembers the meeting with Goodwin at Todd Viney’s home in Melbourne.

Goodwin with Paul Roos, who helped pick him to take over at the Demons. Picture: David Caird.

Roos liked Goodwin’s philosophy on game plan, relationships and standards — a lot of which he had taken from working with Craig at Adelaide.

“It was less about the Xs and the O’s and more about standards and culture and that’s where the first thoughts came that this guy could take us somewhere,” Roos recalled this week.

“His honesty for what he stood for, some of the things he’d done well, things he hadn’t done well.

“I came out of that meeting thinking “I think we’ve just spoken to our next coach’ and there was a process we had to go through but my initial thoughts were very positive.”

Melbourne was on a slow and steady progression under Roos and it gained momentum with Goodwin in the driver’s seat.

The Demons had a 12-10 record in 2017 and missed finals by percentage. This year they were 14-8 and finished fifth, booking an elimination final against Geelong at the MCG on Friday night. It will be Melbourne’s first finals appearance in 12 years.

Melbourne president Glen Bartlett and coach Simon Goodwin embrace as the Demons cement their place in the 2018 finals with a round 23 win over the Giants at the MCG.

Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney describes Goodwin as a very personable coach who gives weekly feedback to every player, regardless of whether they played AFL or VFL.

He has players over to his house for dinner and makes a point of recognising things such as birthdays, parenthood and other milestones in their lives, in front of the group.

“The reason the transition has gone so smoothly is deep down they (Roos and Goodwin) both have the same beliefs in the way clubs should be run in terms of culture and the way the game should be played,” Mahoney said.

“Simon is really passionate about the game; you have to want to learn and innovate and he really believes in building strong relationships with staff and players.

“There are a lot of little efforts he makes to touch base with all the players. When you have a list of 45 players who all want to hear from the senior coach, he’s very good at organising his time to make sure they all get feedback on their game from him.

“He’s also very engaged in wanting to know about their families and life outside of football, and he makes sure we recognise special moments in players’ lives that have nothing to do with football.”

Like every club, Melbourne’s players have had their own life challenges — from 18-year-old kids leaving home for the first time to the trials of key forward Jesse Hogan, who has battled testicular cancer and lost his father in the past three years.

“He (Goodwin) is very understanding and if players have to return home or are struggling off the field, the conversation with Simon is always ‘yes go and get that sorted and we’ll touch base after’. It’s always family before football,” Mahoney said.

Goodwin with co-captain Nathan Jones. He has been described as a very personable coach who is big on building relationships with his players and staff. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

As Goodwin prepares for Friday night’s elimination final, the doubters are probably still there but whether he remains driven by them is unknown. However those who know Goodwin best suspect he is.

Last year an angry Melbourne fan sent him a letter accusing him of making poor selections and continually offering excuses, and enclosed was a destroyed membership card.

This year his leadership was questioned when the players refused to go on a pre-season training camp and in round 17 his team was essentially called soft after coughing up a five-goal lead to lose after the siren to Geelong.

“I’ve got no doubt that quiet determination is still driving him,” Reardon said.

“Watching and listening to him, that’s his personality and the more people who might doubt him or his team, he’s more determined to prove them wrong.”

For all Goodwin achieved in his playing career, he says he still has unfulfilled dreams in football and it’s not hard to guess what he’s referring to.

“Hopefully they come to light at Melbourne,” he said in signing off his Hall of Fame speech last year.

As the Demons finally return to the September stage, the man in charge knows exactly what it takes to make those dreams happen.

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Originally published as The making of Simon Goodwin — the SA coach who has led Melbourne back to the AFL finals