MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin says he is pleased the club’s members and supporters are excited about its future prospects.

Speaking at the Melbourne annual general meeting in the Members Dining Room at the MCG on Thursday night, Goodwin said it was important the club’s fans were itching for 2017 to get started. 

“In regards to 2017, we want our supporters to be excited about where we are. You are now generating higher expectations around our performances and I think that is a good position for the club to be in,” he said.

“In terms of the first five weeks of training, the players came back from leave with the rights attitudes and they have shown a willingness to learn and work hard to get better as a team.

“The football department has been outstanding with the way they’ve innovated and found ways to take our football program to the next level. We wanted to create a program where players want to come to work every day to get better and we are seeing signs of that.”

Goodwin said the club had made great strides, but plenty needed to be achieved. 

“As PJ (Peter Jackson) has said ‘we are just where we planned to be’. We can’t expect natural improvement because the game won’t allow it. The game demands more than that,” he said.

“I, like you, am very excited about where we currently sit. However taking the jump from where we are now – to where we want to go will take a lot of hard work – and that hard work starts now.

“I know our group and department is up for that fight and I know our members are right behind us and I can’t wait to coach an exciting club in 2017.”

Reflecting on 2016, Goodwin said it was a year of improvement for the club.

“We won 10 games, including wins over top four teams GWS and Hawthorn. We had some losses that frustrated us – and I know frustrated our supporters, but the development of the group was the key,” he said.

“We were able to refine our game plan and focus on all three phases of the game. Without doubt, our supporters are starting to see us being more competitive around the footy, and we’re producing a more exciting way, in terms of how we move the ball.

“We continue to teach the right habits and fundamentals of an elite AFL player, and this will be the foundation of our continued development moving forward.”

Goodwin said the fact Melbourne had five AFL debutants in 2016 – Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Josh Wagner, Jayden Hunt and Sam Weideman – and that is was one of the youngest lists in the competition last season pointed to further growth next year and beyond.

“The opposition was more experienced than us in every game last year and we were the youngest team of the round on 14 occasions during the season,” he said.

“This highlights to me that we have tremendous young talent and while we will not use that as an excuse, it does demonstrate why we are going to continue to focus heavily on the development of the players in 2017.”

Goodwin said the acquisition of four-time premiership player Jordan Lewis and experienced defender Michael Hibberd were important additions.

“During the trade period, the club did a great job of improving our list. In Jordan Lewis we have a fierce competitor who is driven to win, and those are qualities that you can’t have enough of at our footy club,” he said.

“Michael Hibberd is a tough competitor that will fit the system of how we like to play and bring some added experience to the team.

“Both Jordan and Michael will play a major role in the development and mentoring of our younger players – both on and off the field.”