Since Simon Goodwin became coach in 2017, he has only had one season with a win rate less than 50%. 2019 was that season. Yesterday saw him record another "winning" season. That's 6 from 7. One better than the previous best Melbourne Coach in my life time, Swooper Northey, who went 5 from 7. Neale Daniher had 6 from 10, although his last season ended after 13 games. Norm Smith coached for 16 seasons and had three less than 50% (including his last 2).  Congratulations Goody.  Only one team can win the flag each year but you have coached a team that has been super competitive over a long period of time.

Easily, hands down the most successful coach we’ve had since the golden era of the 60s. One injury decimated year of being non-competitive in 7 is outstanding.

I’ve seen posters that still prefer Northey or Daniher and it makes my head spin. It really amazes me how little recognition he gets.

But the Pies are going to win the flag so who even cares

never before has it felt like i've gone for a successful year-on-year contender

goodwin is a huge part of that

Edited July 24, 20231 yr by whatwhat say what

His overall win-loss record is slightly ahead of Clarkson and Hardwick. Nothing to be sniffed at.

The club has been explicit with the goal of making the top-4 consistently to give ourselves the best chance each year of seizing the moment. That's what they are doing and I love that we can be top four while still being a bit rough at the edges mid-season.

Of additional significance, I think, is that Goodwin has the best finals win-loss record of any current AFL coach. He was exactly equal with Hardwick, but with Hardwick officially retired that sets Goodwin as the best-performing finals coach in the AFL.

Now, three quick finals wins in a row this year, and Goodwin can surpass Norm Smith's win rate. Albert Chadwick might be a little harder to catch at 80%!

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:29, Little Goffy said:

His overall win-loss record is slightly ahead of Clarkson and Hardwick. Nothing to be sniffed at.

The club has been explicit with the goal of making the top-4 consistently to give ourselves the best chance each year of seizing the moment. That's what they are doing and I love that we can be top four while still being a bit rough at the edges mid-season.

Of additional significance, I think, is that Goodwin has the best finals win-loss record of any current AFL coach. He was exactly equal with Hardwick, but with Hardwick officially retired that sets Goodwin as the best-performing finals coach in the AFL.

Now, three quick finals wins in a row this year, and Goodwin can surpass Norm Smith's win rate. Albert Chadwick might be a little harder to catch at 80%!

That’s incredible really - massive kudos to Goody and it puts everything into perspective when we, as a collective, are often keen to get on his back at the first sign of a defeat.

As Yze said recently: the goal every year for the H/A season is Top 4. After that, whatever happens, happens. But if you can get that Top 4 finish AND build a model of footy that is geared towards finals then you give yourself the best chance.

I realised recently that I was getting frustrated and disappointed by narrow victories: I wanted to think that the 2021 GF was the model going forward. I now realise that we just need to get the wins, whether or not they are perfect.
 

With this change in mindset, I really enjoyed being at the game yesterday: my take was that we were challenged 3 or 4 times by a very good team and not once did we relinquish our lead. Yes, there were some clangers, yes there was some iffy disposal but watch the highlights and you’ll see some great free-flowing Melbourne footy (more than I realised) and a team of players that give everything. Which is what all supporters want at the end of the day, isn’t it?

 

He may have the best record however he also has the best list. I would argue that this list has underperformed vs potential if we don’t win another premiership 

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:48, sydneydee said:

He may have the best record however he also has the best list. I would argue that this list has underperformed vs potential if we don’t win another premiership 

We have had great list over different periods and never won a flag.  Goody has won us a flag and kept us in the top 4 for 3 years now which is a fantastic effort.  Premierships are extremely difficult to win and just because we think our list is better than everyone else’s this is not the reality in an extremely even competition. 

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:48, sydneydee said:

He may have the best record however he also has the best list. I would argue that this list has underperformed vs potential if we don’t win another premiership 

A good list will only get you so far - Carlton are a case in point: they’ve had, I think, the most number 1 picks aside from the expansion clubs and have returned nothing for it over the past 20 years.

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:48, sydneydee said:

He may have the best record however he also has the best list. I would argue that this list has underperformed vs potential if we don’t win another premiership 

Hmm, it is hard to judge. And by how much does the 'best list' increase your chances of a premiership each year compared to second, third, fourth, best list?

Bontempelli, Liberatore, Treloar, and Macrae being rucked to by English is a midfield that keeps pace with ours. Having Naughton and Ugle-Hagan would turn us into an unstoppable killing machine. The three Baileys and Caleb Daniel are a great running set. Really the only area where we definitely have a better list than the Bulldogs is in defence, which includes multiple players with around 50 games or even fewer.

I'd argue that Sydney have seriously underperformed given the extraordinary block of talent they have accumulated.

Those two teams aren't even in the top 4. Unlike our impending draft pick! Bwa ha! I got your best list right here, buddy! (Saying that to the rest of the league, not you personally)

Lol, having four picks in the first two rounds make me a little giddy sometimes.

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:48, sydneydee said:

He may have the best record however he also has the best list. I would argue that this list has underperformed vs potential if we don’t win another premiership 

How much has Goodwin contributed to the strength of the list? Many key members of our side, such as May and Lever, are imports. How many of them would say, if asked, I was convinced after I got Goody’s presentation? I recall May saying something like that. On top of that, in the last few years in particular we’ve hardly lost a player we’d prefer to have kept other than Jackson, and all our best players have signed long term deals.

It’s hard to know what’s cause and what’s effect, but the coach surely gets some slice of the credit for the fact that we’ve been able to attract and retain a talented list.

  On 24/07/2023 at 02:54, Nasher said:

How much has Goodwin contributed to the strength of the list? Many key members of our side, such as May and Lever, are imports. How many of them would say, if asked, I was convinced after I got Goody’s presentation? I recall May saying something like that. On top of that, in the last few years in particular we’ve hardly lost a player we’d prefer to have kept other than Jackson, and all our best players have signed long term deals.

It’s hard to know what’s cause and what’s effect, but the coach surely gets some slice of the credit for the fact that we’ve been able to attract and retain a talented list.

Kosi stayed because of his relationship with Goody. 

I remember the exhilaration and ultimate disappointment of the John Northey era 87 should have been ours and his year but as pointed out 5 out of 7 winning years got us back in the groove. The Daniher 10 year span was something else particularly 98 and 2000 we got used to winning again and enjoyed going back to the G. Hard to believe how quickly the past 7 years have gone under Simon Goodwin and how we have changed, we now expect to win every game, 2018 so exciting to be back, 2021 we saw perfection for the first time in 60 years, Goody has built expectation and a strong culture back to our mighty club. Love Goody and what he brings week in week out.!!!!

I've been supporting this club since the early 90s and this is by far the best version of the MFC I have ever seen.. from a stable board to a excellent playing list that consistently wins it almost fells kind of weird. And I guess some posters are just waiting for us to implode.. 

Simon to his credit is a strong Leader who is doing what he said he'll do at the start. Play a brand that wins finals. If he does or doesn't win another flag he has set a culture that will hopefully remain for a very long time

I love people saying, oh but he has the best list.

How can anyone actually quantify the 'best list'. I guess you could take the player ratings and then work out the average across each list, but that is skewed because some players haven't played as many games in the most recent history which is what that is calculated by.

It's a complete furphy we have the best list. We have a great backline and midfield, but our forwardline would be nowhere near the best on raw talent.

The win comparison in finals to Hardwick doesn’t stack up for me. Hardwick has won 3 flags in his wins.

Hopefully Goodwin adds a second this year.

  On 24/07/2023 at 03:26, Jaded No More said:

Kosi stayed because of his relationship with Goody. 

I think that the culture that Goody lives and breathes cannot be underestimated, it’s impact on the club and players…in my opinion, priceless 

  On 24/07/2023 at 03:59, Gorgoroth said:

The win comparison in finals to Hardwick doesn’t stack up for me. Hardwick has won 3 flags in his wins.

Hopefully Goodwin adds a second this year.

To be fair, it took Hardwick seven years to get his first finals win, after going zero-from-one in three consecutive seasons and then dropping back out of the 8 for 2016.

Coincidentally, that marks a near-exact halfway point in his career, which, double-coincidentally (co-coindicentally?) is also near-exactly the number of games Goodwin has coached so far.

hm, odd that Hardwick retired 9 games from the 300. You'd think they could have used him at least as a sub for a while.

There’s only one stat that matters, he’s a premiership coach.

I also remember Burgess saying Goody was the no.1 reason that he took the Dees job and he'd still be here if it weren't for his extenuating circumstances (COVID and family in Adelaide)

  On 25/07/2023 at 01:29, Fritta The Hair G.O.A.T. said:

I also remember Burgess saying Goody was the no.1 reason that he took the Dees job and he'd still be here if it weren't for his extenuating circumstances (COVID and family in Adelaide)

Burgess came straight over to our bench after the game on Sunday and gave Goody and a few of the trainers/fitness guys a hug. Was nice to see.

I was tempted to kidnap him and not release him back to SA until he gets Clarry back to playing.

Fine, I'll say it if no one else will ...

Coaching record aside, Is Goody the right guy?

  On 24/07/2023 at 03:54, DistrACTION Jackson said:

I love people saying, oh but he has the best list.

How can anyone actually quantify the 'best list'. I guess you could take the player ratings and then work out the average across each list, but that is skewed because some players haven't played as many games in the most recent history which is what that is calculated by.

It's a complete furphy we have the best list. We have a great backline and midfield, but our forwardline would be nowhere near the best on raw talent.

And i'd add that, even if you argue our CURRENT list is the best in the AFL (and some would no doubt disagree with that assessment), it's not like he's had a list chock a block with A grade talent all his coaching career (unlike say Scott who inherited a flag winning team at the Cats).

When goody took over from Roos as senior coach in 2017, this was the team that ran out in round one of that season (from the backline): 

Alex Neal-Bullen,  Oscar McDonald,  Billy Stretch

Jayden Hunt,  Tom McDonald, Jake Melksham

Clayton Oliver,  Nathan Jones,  Bernie Vince

Christian Petracca, Joel Smith, Sam Weideman

Mitch Hannan, Jesse Hogan, Jeff Garlett

Max Gawn, Jordan Lewis, Jack Viney

Christian Salem, Jack Watts, Angus Brayshaw, Neville Jetta

If you include Salo as an A grader (as i do), the players in that team who are A grade NOW are Salo, Gawn, Tracc, and Oliver.

But not one of those four players were A grade in 2017 (or 2018 either for that matter).

Gawn was at least a couple of seasons away from being close to the force he is now.

Tracc was in his second season, after his first was wiped out by an ACL.

Oliver was in his second season, and whilst obviously very good still had a way to go before he could be considered elite. 

Salo was probably the closest to being an A grader, given it was his fourth season, but his first few seasons were impacted by his thyroid issues so he was a fair way off what his level is now. 

I think in our current team you could also argue Lever, May, Koz and Fritter are also A graders. 

But Lever didn't join the dees until 2018.

Fritter started his career in 2018, and of course took a few seasons to become the gun he is now.

May joined the dees in 2019 (and had a big part of that season wiped out with his hammy issues)

And Koz didn't debut until the 2020 season. 

Maybe if we don't win another flag in the next in five years time you could argue Goody hasn't got the most out our current list, but given the list at his disposal over the seven years he has coached us in TOTALITY, his record is phenomenal.   

Edited July 25, 20231 yr by binman

  On 24/07/2023 at 01:08, Swooper1987 said:

Since Simon Goodwin became coach in 2017, he has only had one season with a win rate less than 50%. 2019 was that season. Yesterday saw him record another "winning" season. That's 6 from 7. One better than the previous best Melbourne Coach in my life time, Swooper Northey, who went 5 from 7. Neale Daniher had 6 from 10, although his last season ended after 13 games. Norm Smith coached for 16 seasons and had three less than 50% (including his last 2).  Congratulations Goody.  Only one team can win the flag each year but you have coached a team that has been super competitive over a long period of time.

Goody currently on 90 wins 58 losses and one draw (60.4%). Take out that rogue 2019 year of 5 wins from 22 and his winning percentage would be extraordinary.

  On 25/07/2023 at 02:11, binman said:

And i'd add that, even if you argue our CURRENT list is the best in the AFL (and some would no doubt disagree with that assessment), it's not like he's had a list chock a block with A grade talent all his coaching career (unlike say Scott who inherited a flag winning team at the Cats).

When goody took over from Roos as senior coach in 2017, this was the team that ran out in round one of that season (from the backline): 

Alex Neal-Bullen,  Oscar McDonald,  Billy Stretch

Jayden Hunt,  Tom McDonald, Jake Melksham

Clayton Oliver,  Nathan Jones,  Bernie Vince

Christian Petracca, Joel Smith, Sam Weideman

Mitch Hannan, Jesse Hogan, Jeff Garlett

Max Gawn, Jordan Lewis, Jack Viney

Christian Salem, Jack Watts, Angus Brayshaw, Neville Jetta

If you include Salo as an A grader (as i do), the players in that team who are A grade NOW are Salo, Gawn, Tracc, and Oliver.

 

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that if you had your time again writing this comment you'd include Viney in that list of A-graders