How Bugg has changed his perception

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has explained the process behind Tomas Bugg changing his image and earning the trust back from his teammates.

Bugg damaged his reputation when he punched Sydney’s Callum Mills in a Round 15 match last season, which resulted in him being banned for six weeks and failing to get back into the senior side.

Goodwin has conceded that incident had ramifications about how the coaching staff and playing group viewed Bugg, an image the 24-year-old has worked hard to correct.

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“We were really strong on Tom from a cultural perspective,” the coach told SEN’s Whateley.

“We were disappointed with some of the things that occurred throughout the year last year and Tom lost a lot of trust with the players and coaches.

“From that moment, he has worked incredibly hard to reshape the way he trains, reshape the way he plays the game, to really go about changing the perception of Tom Bugg and become a really important player for us.

“He has done a lot of that hard work, he has built that trust up.

“There was a clean slate given to him at the start of the summer and he has worked himself into a position where he is probably one of our best team first players going around at the moment.

“That’s why he is in the team and he is really growing as a player.”

Bugg had 13 disposals in the victory over Brisbane on the weekend, as the Demons notched their first win of 2018.

Goodwin also said Bugg’s adjustments went beyond the football field.

“He went about really changing his lifestyle to become the best player he can be,” he said.

“He wanted to develop a winners mindset, he wanted to become humble in how he went about his business and he wanted to show gratitude to the people who were helping him out.

“He has done a lot of reading, a lot of education around articles and books that actually work on his mindset.

“He certainly has put every step in place to actually change that perception and grow from that experience.

“We are really proud of the way Tom has gone about it.”

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The coaching staff has played a key role in encouraging and acknowledging Bugg’s changes throughout the process.

“We had some really strong conversations at the time last year when he was going through that difficult phase when he was letting the club and his teammates down,” Goodwin said.

“I’ve certainly kept in contact with him, checked in with him a lot, helped him out and recognised his steps and progression forward.

“We have had a coaching group that has put a lot of time into him and he has developed some great mentors for the footy club.”

Listen to Simon Goodwin’s chat with Gerard Whateley on SEN’s Whateley in the player below