COACH Simon Goodwin says he’s looking forward to seeing two strong contested sides “going at each other” this Saturday night, when Melbourne takes on the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval.

Goodwin said it was a great challenge for his side to come up against the top-of-the-ladder Crows, particularly after they dropped their first game of the season against North Melbourne last round.

“You certainly look at the way teams go about beating certain sides and clearly North had a very good day and set-up really well,” he said.

“There are things that you learn from opposition results, but there are certain things that we do as well as a club that we want to play. We’ll focus on both of those things going into this weekend.

“When you’re sitting in the position that Adelaide are, you expect them to play their best footy all of the time.

“We’re preparing for them to play their best and they’re a very good side. All week we’re focusing on being able to play the way we want to all of the time. If we get that, we’re going to get a very good game of footy come Saturday night.”

Goodwin said Melbourne had won the fourth most quarters in the competition this year and added that it was not unusual for sides to go through situations “like we’re going through right now”.

“We’re still a developing team and still learning,” he said.

“We’ve played seven games now this season and if you include the JLT [Community Series], we’ve been in winning positions in the last quarter of every game.

“We’re still learning how to turn those opportunities into victories and that’s where we’re at in our phase of our development and our learning.

“As we keep improving, we’ll keep continuing to maximise those opportunities moving forward.”

Goodwin praised Bernie Vince’s effort to reach 200 AFL games this round and said he was a much-loved figure among the Adelaide and Melbourne fans.

“It’s fantastic for Bern. He came into AFL footy a little bit older and a little bit rough around the edges, but he developed and really became an elite player – not only at Adelaide, but also since he’s been at Melbourne,” he said.

“So, 200 games is a credit to what he’s been able to achieve, and I know the players are keen to play really well for Bernie this weekend.

“I know his family is looking forward to it and he’s got a big contingent going – I think he’s asked for 40 tickets. It should be a pretty big Bernie Vince support crew.

“Everyone loves Bernie, so he’ll be received really well. He gave the Adelaide footy club a great period of performance and he’s much-loved in the city of Adelaide, so he’ll be well received by the supporters there.”

Meanwhile, Goodwin confirmed youngster Angus Brayshaw was set to return for Casey this weekend after missing the past two weeks with concussion.

“He’ll play this week in the VFL, so it really was precautionary the last couple of weeks to make sure he was over his concussion issues,” he said.

“He’s looking forward to playing and he’s had two weeks of training, and we’ll get him back playing and probably play him in a slightly different position [down back] and ease him back that way.”