Premiership coach Simon Goodwin said Melbourne wouldn’t be “jumping at shadows” after a five-point loss to Carlton in their final pre-season hitout.
But he conceded the Demons discipline had to drastically improve in time for their season-opening Grand Final rematch with the Western Bulldogs on March 16 after his player gave away a staggering eight 50-metre penalties – a VFL/AFL record in either pre-season or home-and-away games – which directly led to five Carlton goals amid an umpire crackdown set to flow into the new season.
“We spoke about it as a group because we want to be seen as a really disciplined footy club,” Goodwin said post-match.
“Eight 50s is clearly an adjustment to the new rules but we have to be better.
“We hadn’t seen it [called] that way last week but everyone in the competition will adjust to these rules and we will get better at it. Eight 50s is too much. It cost us six goals and was a big factor in deciding the result of the game.”
Goodwin described the performance, a week after thrashing North Melbourne in a practice match, as an “anomaly” but he wasn’t pushing the panic button and insisted the result wasn’t a reflection of his team’s hunger for more premiership success.
“We’re not going to jump at shadows,” he said.
“We‘ve got a little bit of work to do in the next 13 days, but that was a little bit of an anomaly for us,” Demons coach Simon Goodwin said.
“If you saw the players after the game, there‘s a definite hunger there…they knew that wasn’t them tonight but this leadership group does respond.”
In a boost for the Demons’ grand final rematch, Goodwin expected premiership defenders Steven May, Christian Salem and Michael Hibberd to all return.
But with Harrison Petty (calf) not expected to line up, Goodwinxjmtzyw suggested the door was open for Adam Tomlinson and/or Joel Smith to cement a spot down back.
“It’s competitive for spots down there,” Goodwin said. “They both haven’t put a foot wrong.”
Rookie-listed player Daniel Turner experienced foot soreness against Carlton and was taken out of the game as a result.
