SIMON Goodwin says crossing the Nullarbor to play in the west remains the toughest road trip in the game.
Speaking in the lead-up to Melbourne’s clash against the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium on Saturday, Goodwin said it was a challenge the club was excited at taking on.
“It’s a tough road trip – without doubt,” he said.
“It’s always been the hardest trip in footy to go over to the west and win, but it’s something that our players are really looking to and going about their business.”
Goodwin said a West Coast team without injured spearhead Josh Kennedy was still a dangerous one.
“Josh didn’t play against Geelong last week and they were very, very good,” he said.
“It doesn’t change our thinking about how we prepare for West Coast.
“We’ll just go about our business as normal and prepare as best we can.”
Goodwin said Tom Bugg’s Instagram post from last round had been addressed, but he added that the versatile Demon was a passionate player that the team loved.
“Tom plays the game a certain way and I think his teammates love the way he goes about his footy. I’d be lying if we didn’t have the discussion about what we saw last week,” he said.
“As a club, we want to be seen as a club that’s really respectful and humble. We want to be a club that’s really team first and we’ve had an education around our group and how that looks like.
“We want our players to have personality and Jayden Hunt’s got the headbands – so we want them to have personality – but make sure they’re really team first in the way they go about their business.”
Reflecting on his induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, Goodwin said was a memorable occasion he’ll never forget.
“It was a great night, Tuesday night,” he said.
“It was a short week, so it was back to work pretty quickly. It was enjoyable to spend it with my family and friends in Adelaide and I’m really looking forward to this week’s game in Perth.”
Meanwhile, Goodwin said he wanted to learn more about ‘AFLX’ before making an informed position on it.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard about it,” he said.
“I’m interested in listening to the concept, but we’ll get a bit more information and see where that sits.”
