New plans for title favourites

Having locked up a top-four spot on Monday night Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin will look to rest “sore” to ensure his side is at its physical peak and ready to play its best football when the finals series starts.

Breaking the longest premiership drought in the AFL is a dizzying proposition for the Demons, who withstood a delay for lightning and then a late West Coast surge to beat the Eagles by nine points in Perth on Monday night.

The win came in wet, slippery, physical conditions before the players hopped the red-eye flight back to Melbourne ahead of a clash with 17th placed Adelaide this weekend.

Goodwin wants to continue building a winning culture at the Demons that can be maintained beyond this season.

But he knows that with a double chance in the finals now secured, immediate aims could mean more focused planning.

“We just want to keep building a winning culture; that‘s what you do as a footy club,” Goodwin said.

“We want to create the habits that last you a long, long time as a footy club. It‘s important we continue to push that.

“In saying that, we certainly won‘t continue playing guys who are playing sore if we don’t need to. But we want to continue playing the right way.”

The Monday night game was delayed by almost 30 minutes in the final quarter while the bad weather cleared. The Eagles bounced back from 33 points down at the forced interval to almost cause a boilover, but the Demons held on for a crucial win.

Monday night’s game in Perth was tough. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

They end round 21 in top spot on the AFL ladder, two points ahead of the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Port Adelaide, who all have 15 wins.

Importantly, the fifth-placed Brisbane are 10 points behind the Demons, with only two games to play.

The Lions can’t catch them.

For the first time since 2000, the Demons will end the home-and-away fixtures in the top four, with a double chance in the first round of finals.

The feat isn’t lost on Goodwin.

“It is really important for our football club to cement that spot in the top four,” he said. “We know in that position you give yourself the best chance come the season end.

“But that is our first step for what we want to do. We want to continue to build our game. We want to continue to make our supporters proud and make sure that when we hit the final stages of the season we‘re playing our best footy.

“I thought tonight there were areas of our game we could improve, but there were areas I thought we were starting to head right back in the right direction.”

It has been tough going for Melbourne since its round 14 bye. It has lost games to top-eight sides Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs and also drawn with Hawthorn.

The Demons claimed consecutive wins when knocking off the Eagles after demolishing the Suns and have also had wins over Essendon and Port Adelaide.

Their season ends with games against Adelaide and Geelong.

They may be without Jayden Hunt for at least one of those games. He was subbed out of the Monday night’s game with an ankle injury, although Goodwin said Hunt was positive after the game.

“We’ll jump on a plane (back to Melbourne) and get it assessed; hopefully it’s not that bad,” he said.

“We‘ve been on the road for pretty much eight days; we’ve had a couple off from the game last week on the Gold Coast before coming over here to quarantine.

“It‘s a big effort for our staff and our footy team and to get the result. I was really proud of them.”

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