NEW MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin will begin his first year as senior coach with a healthy list and the confidence his team is tracking upwards.

Despite the pressure that will come – he noted that his wife Maggie wished him all the best before he left the house on Monday morning – he is excited at the prospect of being in the driver's seat.

"It is a huge challenge for a footy club that is starting to grow and develop and take some strides forward," Goodwin said.

Goodwin, 39, who has spent two years as coach-in-waiting and an off-season studying and planning, will assume a side that rose to 11th on the ladder in 2016 under Paul Roos, only crashing out of finals contention in the second last round.

However he knows the upward climb won't just happen, noting that the core of the Demons' list remained young.

"We know that talent is not going to get us there," Goodwin said.

The addition of four-time premiership player Jordan Lewis from Hawthorn will help, as will the return to football of Jake Melksham and Michael Hibberd, both recruited in the past two seasons after spending time under Goodwin at Essendon, where he was senior assistant coach.

"We're just rapt to have Jordan (Lewis) on board," Goodwin said, adding that the veteran just needed to embrace what the Demons were doing, work hard and be a role model for the younger players.

Whether Lewis becomes a member of the leadership group would be decided in February.

Although senior players were not due to resume training until November 21, Goodwin said the team would hit the ground running.

Only Jack Viney (hip operation), Tom McDonald and Cam Pedersen (shoulder surgery) and Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) are expected to initially have slightly modified programs while Goodwin said Heritier Lumumba had been given the all clear over his persistent concussion effects and will resume training with the other senior players.