Malcolm Blight has recalled the best move he made as coach during a Grand Final.
Blight was in charge of the Adelaide Crows in their first ever decider in 1997 against St Kilda when he rang some significant changes.
The Crows trailed the Saints by 13 points at the MCG when Blight moved Simon Goodwin up the ground from defence and shifted Darren Jarman from the midfield to the forward line.
The move worked a treat with Adelaide kicking six goals to two in the third term to set up their eventual 31-point triumph.
Jarman would finish with a bag of six, including five in the final quarter, to turn the game on its head.
Current Melbourne coach Goodwin, who was playing in just his 10th AFL game at the time, had 19 disposals, five tackles and kicked a first-half goal in the win.
“In the ‘97 Grand Final, it involved two people, Simon Goodwin, believe it or not, and Darren Jarman,” Blight said on SEN’s Whateley when discussing his best coaching move.
“We were obviously down at half-time. The trick was I loved Darren Jarman around the ball and also loved him up forward and he wasn’t a fumbler.
“So what I did is I put him in the centre bounce at the start of the third quarter and made him run forward. He was actually playing full-forward.
“Simon Goodwin came off the back of the square which started all this. In the ‘97 Grand Final not a lot of people had seen this before.
“Simon was actually the midfielder, so he came in unannounced and had seven or eight touches in the third quarter and we know what Darren Jarman did, running free into the forward line with no one on him.”
Goodwin, who will coach the Demons in this weekend’s Grand Final against the Western Bulldogs, this week spoke of a similarity between he and Jake Bowey.
When the 19-year-old crosses the white line on Saturday, it will mark his seventh senior appearance which just so happens to be in a Grand Final.
Goodwin knows the feeling very well and has backed Bowey to get the job done in defence.
“That was me in 1997, 10 games into my career,” Goodwin said.
“For them it’s excitement, it’s new and it’s raw, and a lot of those guys will just go out and play. They've got no fear.”
Blight commented on that coincidence, recalling just how Goodwin made his way back into the Crows’ line-up in his debut season.
“He actually played the first game of the year in ‘97, we played Brisbane from memory and he got injured,” Blight added.
“I can’t remember if it was a groin or a thigh but it was something that kept him out for some time. He didn’t play, so it’s pretty hard to get a kick if you’re wounded.
“It was a gradual process with him to come back in towards the later end of the year.
“He came back in Round 14 and never looked back from there. His win rate was enormous that year, I think he played in nine winning teams out of 10 games.
“He’d become a little key part, although a very young part, of a very young group. We had seven under 22 in that team that ended up winning another one.
“He was very key towards the end of the year.”
Goodwin did end up with nine wins from his first 10 games, including a premiership, while Bowey is without defeat from his six outings at the elite level as he steps into his first Grand Final.