Goodwin opens up on “insulting” camp reports

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has dismissed reports he was willing to quit his job in the aftermath of the club's cancelled training camp.

After a group of Demons voiced their displeasure with the gruelling camp to the AFLPA, which caused a string of events that led to it being shelved, reports have emerged that Round 1 selection was impacted, and Goodwin’s position was in question, due to the abandoned trip.

However, Goodwin has called those rumours “insulting” and “laughable”, while explaining how he was never going to leave his coaching post.

“That was a rumour and I think we do need to be really careful in this industry when rumours go around because they actually become folklore over time,” he told SEN’s Whateley.

“That was so far from the truth it wasn’t funny.

“That was disappointing but at the same time, I understand how these things grow. They spread quickly.

“They grow from rumour to folklore and then they become a part of what the story becomes.

“That certainly wasn’t the case. I’m fully committed to this playing group and club.

“We are building something pretty unique and special.”

Dom Tyson and Angus Brayshaw were left out of Melbourne’s season opener against Geelong, with many drawing a link between those players being a part of the group that went to the AFLPA about concerns over the camp.

That theory is a false one, though, according to the coach.

“I heard those reports and it was laughable,” Goodwin said.

“We dealt with that camp four months earlier, it all went down on a Friday and by the Monday we had moved on as a footy club.

“We had addressed it with the players, we had spoken about the learnings of the club, from a leadership group, from a coaching and from a medical perspective.

“Every scenario from that camp, there were learnings to be had.

“Selection, that was completely laughable.

“I have great relationships with all those players and there is certainly no feeling or ill feeling towards a really small piece in our puzzle of building what we want to build as a footy club.”

Another element that was dissected from the camp saga was why a set of players went to the AFLPA instead of speaking directly with the coaching group.

Despite those reports, Goodwin says his relationship with the playing group wasn’t strained.

“I was disappointed because it has been such a big story but such a small piece over our journey over the summer,” he said.

“To think I would actually do that and think like that, it was a bit insulting in that regard in terms of I would never think like that and I would never hold a grudge like that.

“We grew, we made a decision together, we move forward together.

“We respect our players and how they feel and how we go about our business.”

Goodwin did concede there was some confusion when he first heard the camp had been banished, but is confident the positives from the situation outweigh the negatives.

“I guess initially you think why are we doing this and why is this happening,” he said.

“When you break the reality down, we are going to build hard working, competitive, resilient and humble people in a lot of different ways.

“This was just a really small piece.

“There are great learnings from the year before in a whole range of areas of the footy club.

“That goes for me, that goes for the players and that goes for everyone involved in the footy club.

“We make these decisions together and we learn from those experiences.”