OF COURSE, Simon Goodwin would’ve liked his side to remain undefeated in 2022, but that was never going to happen.

“I think it’s just the reality of footy: you are going to lose,” Goodwin said on SEN Breakfast on Monday morning.

“It’s going to happen.”

The Demons lost their first game of the season on Saturday, falling to Fremantle by 38 points after a 12-goal-to-one second half.

And while it was a disappointing evening for the home side at the MCG, it proved to be arguably as valuable as any win thus far.

“You don’t want to lose, but you get another set of information,” Goodwin said.

“It reaffirms what’s important to you, what you need to be good at and it gives your players a different look at the game.

“How you handle losing is different to how you handle winning.”

Coming off a premiership last season, Melbourne has been considered the team to beat this year.

So, with 17 sides coming after them, the Dees need to continue to learn each week and adapt their game style.

“We’ve had those challenges for the last 18 months, where teams have thrown different stuff at us and tried to break us down in various areas,” Goodwin said.

“What we do as a group … is we learn from those scenarios.

“If you’re prepared to give up territory at clearance like we did on the weekend and you can’t win enough contests both at the air and ground, you’re going to suffer the consequences against good teams.

“That was a really clear thing for us on the weekend.”

To hear Goodwin review the Round 11 match in more depth, listen to the radio interview below.