Simon Goodwin asks players to avoid bumping due to suspension risk

A banned Demons livewire needed to listen to his coach who told players to avoid unnecessary bumps because the game had changed.

Kysaiah Pickett received a two-match ban for this high bump on Bailey Smith.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin warned his players about avoiding big bumps on opponents before livewire Kysaiah Pickett’s high hit on Western Bulldogs Bailey Smith ended with a big ban.

Goodwin revealed he had addressed the playing group in the past about avoiding bumping opposition players due to the clear risk of suspension.

Pickett received a two-match ban for the incident in which both his feet left the ground and he appeared to make contact with Smith’s head.

“I did speak to the playing group and Kozzy was involved in that about the bump,” Goodwin said.

“There’s no element in the game where we should be bumping, and that’s the message I’ve given to our playing group, that it just puts you in a situation you don’t want to be in.

“We certainly won’t be encouraging our players to bump, we want them to tackle, we want them to play tough, contested footy, and that’s one element of the game we’ve got to get right.”

Simon Goodwin told his players not to bump. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Goodwin said he did not want Pickett to alter his intensity around the contest but just the football actions he channelled it into.

“I’m certainly not going to talk to him about the way he plays, I love the pressure he puts on, I love the intensity he plays with,” Goodwin said.

“We’ll try to limit that risk where we can – we want our players to tackle, we want to play tough, but we certainly don’t want them to bump in any situation that they don’t need to be bumping. Kozzy knows that, he knows he’s probably got it wrong.

“From my perspective I think (the bump is dead). Our game is about tackling, I don’t think there’s any need to bump in the game.”

Kysaiah Pickett, Shane McAdam and Lance Franklin are all facing MRO scrutiny.

Goodwin said premiership quartet Steven May, Jack Viney, Bayley Fritsch and Christian Salem were all set to be available for selection ahead of Friday night’s clash against Brisbane at the Gabba.

“It’s great for us, they’ve had a couple of weeks of training and they’re ready to go. May had that little calf … Viney has really started to increase his loads in the last few weeks,” he said.

“We’re confident all those guys will be available to play and it will be a pretty strong selection headache.”

A decision had not been made on whether Salem would play in the AFL or VFL after overcoming a pre-season thyroid issue.

“He’s certainly put in a lot of work over the last three or four weeks and we want to set him up for success,” Goodwin said.

“He’s had an enormous pre-season up until his thyroid, he’s clearly had a lot of downtime over that period, but he’s done a lot of work to get himself back in this position.”