MANAGER of football operations Josh Mahoney says a stable football department will be critical to Melbourne’s long term success.

Mahoney said the fact the club hadn’t chopped and changed its staff over the off-season was another critical element to Melbourne’s quest for sustained success.   

“There are no surprises that for a club to be successful on the field, it needs to be stable off the field,” he told Dee TV.

“We made a lot of changes when Roosy (Paul Roos) first got appointed – 12 to 15 months ago. [The club] made a lot of changes in the football department and changed around some personnel and some roles. The pleasing thing now is that we’ve only had one change in the footy department and that’s [former midfield and strategy coach] George Stone, who’s retired from AFL.

“The focus for us last year was to get our environment right. We needed players to actually enjoy coming to work. It got to a stage where they’d been through some really tough times and they didn’t actually want to come to work – they’d hit the snooze button before they came in. That was a real focus for us in the first 12 months.”

Mahoney said the club had identified development as a key priority this off-season. It led to the appointment of former Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney as development and strategy coach, Justin Plapp as full-time Casey coach and former player Shannon Byrnes in development/welfare.

“To be able to appoint someone like Brendan McCartney into that role … Justin Plapp … [as Casey coach], Shannon Byrnes in a different role – he’s going to work with us in welfare and development, but also play out at Casey and be a line coach out there. We thought he was the perfect fit for that role.

“The strength between Casey and Melbourne is crucial for us and every little thing that we can do to strengthen that relationship – we think that’s going to help with the development of our players.”

Mahoney said the appointment of Simon Goodwin in the off-season – as the club’s next senior coach after Paul Roos – was also critical to the club’s long term vision and stability.

“It was one of the most crucial things we had to get right – the succession planning. When he (Roos) decided that [it would be] three years, it gave us a little bit of time to get the succession plan right,” he said.

“To go through the process and to arrive with Simon Goodwin as our coach gives a lot of people some confidence that we can now sit down with players and say ‘these [coaches are] going to be your senior coach for the next five years … Paul Roos for the next two and Simon Goodwin for a minimum of the next three’.

“I’ve seen firsthand the changes, when you get a new coach in. All of a sudden, [new coaches] want different strategies and different types of players. It can almost take two years to turn the whole playing list over. All the good things that we can build with Paul Roos here as senior coach, we will be able to continue with Simon Goodwin.”

Mahoney added that the appointments were critical to when Goodwin takes over as senior coach for the 2017 season. 

“All of the improvements that we make are hopefully heading in the right direction and are as smooth as possible in terms of the takeover. We’re certainly not waiting for Simon Goodwin to take over,” he said.

“The coaches are working really hard and they’re really excited by where we’re at with pre-season so far. Pre-Christmas last year was about building relationships with the players, but this year they’ve been able to get straight into training.

“We think we’re a long way ahead of last year.”

Mahoney said it was critical the club set up Goodwin for when he becomes senior coach. 

“We’ve got two years to give Simon Goodwin all the tools possible to be the best senior coach that he can be. That’s the way we’re going to approach it. The first six months are going to be in development and we think that’s really important that he builds relationships with everyone on the list,” he said.

“Sometimes you go into line coaching and you become really close to your 12 to 15 players, but lose touch with some of the other players. He’s sitting down with Brett Allison and Brad Miller and going through development plans with all of our individual players.

“That’ll be for the first six months and then he’ll move into the midfield, so that’s the real plan. Then we’ll sit down with him after that and say ‘what’s the next six months look like’.”

“The second year into it, he’ll be doing a lot more progressing into the senior coaching role and Roosy might give up a few responsibilities as well in that second year, so that’s been really important.

“Brendan McCartney will join us in February. Just being able to have an experienced head in there to oversee all of the development plans … we have to get the most out of them and that’s what the responsibilities of those guys are.”