MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin has launched a passionate defence of the club in the wake of substantial criticism directed at his side over a perceived lack of discipline filtering through this season.
Goodwin pointed to the club's gritty eight-point win over Carlton as a sign of the Demons' improved maturity and what the club stands for in what was, as he described, a "character-building" win.
The Demons have been heavily scrutinised for undisciplined acts in recent weeks, following Tom Bugg's provocative Instagram post, the lengthy six-game suspension Bugg received from the AFL Tribunal and the four players who were suspended for breaking the club's protocols around the drinking of alcohol.
"Culture is an interesting word when it's bandied around. How you actually get it and how you build it. We're still building our culture and we need to be really clear on that," Goodwin said in his post-game press conference.
"The character of the playing group that we're starting to develop is through culture and that's why we're able to win some of those close games and there's a belief around that that's really growing at this footy club."
The club-imposed suspensions four players – Jay Kennedy-Harris, Dean Kent, Ben Kennedy and Jake Spencer – received for drinking alcohol off a six-day break in the lead-in to the match against Sydney was an example of the club's hard-line stance, according to Goodwin.
"We could have easily swept that under the carpet as a club and not dealt with the issue, but our leadership group was really strong on what they want to create," Goodwin said.
"They addressed it around the elite preparation that they're looking for from the playing group and that's what good culture is and that's how you build good culture."
Goodwin said he had been surprised at the weighty analysis of his team.
"There's a lack of understanding of what it (culture) looks like and what you're trying to create," Goodwin said.
"I'm not disappointed by the commentary. We'll block that noise out but I think there's a lack of understanding when you're trying to create something what it looks like and I'm really clear on what we're trying to create and how we're going to address it and grow it and believe in it."
The Demons are likely to be facing more questions after young midfielder Clayton Oliver was involved in a verbal stoush with a fan in the second quarter of the match against Carlton.
Oliver directed what appeared to be a fiery retort back at a Blues fan who was heckling him from over the fence.
Goodwin said he wanted to establish all the facts first before commenting on the incident.
"I'll have a chat with Clayton but I haven't got all the information so once I get that then we can have a chat about it," Goodwin said.
"Clearly Clayton isn't going to react to something unnecessarily so let's get all the information on the table before we start criticising people."
The Demons could welcome back Jack Watts (hamstring) and Dom Tyson (knee) for the clash against ladder-leader Adelaide in Darwin next Saturday night.
On the back of Jesse Hogan's inspirational return in his first game since round seven and Joel Smith's comeback from a shoulder injury, after missing the best part of 13 weeks, Goodwin said it would be a challenge to integrate those players with a lack of match conditioning back into the side.
Jack Viney (foot) is still 4-6 weeks away, while Nathan Jones (quad) and Christian Salem (hamstring) are around a month from resuming.
"The guys that have been playing AFL have been outstanding in getting their bodies right and recovered," Goodwin said.
"We're looking forward to the challenge of going up to Darwin and we know we're going to play a quality team."
