‘Amazing how fast you move on’: Gawn on the brutal reality of Goodwin’s sacking

Melbourne giant Max Gawn has advised Demons players and club supporters to “move on”, despite the premiership captain being shocked that coach Simon Goodwin was axed on Monday night.

The seven-time All-Australian ruckman said he was not angry with the board’s surprise call to cut Goodwin and was already looking forward to Sunday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs, the coming trade period and the prospect of a new coach.

“I’m a supporter of the team and I love the club,” Gawn told Triple M on Thursday morning. “They’ve sacked people that I love before, and this one is harder to take, but I also have great relationships with people that made the decision, and they have explained it to me.

“It’s amazing how fast you move on in football. Goodwin sacked like, ‘Geez my life is over, what’s happened here, I’m down in the dumps Tuesday morning and we train Tuesday arvo’.

“I’m here today, and now I can’t wait for the Bulldogs game, trade period and a new coach. It’s amazing how quickly you move on.

“That would be my advice for players and supporters – ‘let’s move on’.”

Gawn said he was at home watching the Test match between England and India on Monday night when he got a phone call from Demons football boss Alan Richardson and acting CEO David Chippindall, who then called at his house.

“They walked me through the process they had, just coming from Goody’s house so I appreciate I was part of the process,” Gawn said.

“I had 12 hours to sort it out. I called him in the morning, and we had a good chat and the rest you saw. I was obviously shocked as most people were.

“I didn’t see it coming which is good managing in my eyes. If you did see it coming it means things are leaking, and you’re struggling to keep things in house, so the shock is a good thing in my eyes.”

Gawn said he had shared great times with Goodwin, including raising the premiership cup after beating the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium in the 2021 grand final.

“Him at the football club is me at my best,” the ruckman said.

Gawn said he wanted all prospective candidates, including Nathan Buckley, Adam Simpson and John Longmire, to take a call from Melbourne Football Club.

“I hope they do [take the call],” Gawn said. “There’s 18 jobs for coaching and I presume all coaches want to get to the pinnacle.

“It’s natural to be scared of change but when it happens you realise nothing really happened and you’re bullish on what’s to come. Change is sometimes necessary.”

Vice captain Jack Viney described Goodwin’s removal as “certainly not ideal” for the players, but added that they understood why the club had to make tough decisions to get back into finals.

Viney, who is close to Goodwin said the players were faring as well as they could be after losing their senior coach, whom Viney had dealt with at Melbourne since 2014.

“We’re going OK, as good as you can after losing your senior coach and good friend for the last nine to 11 years,” he said in a video interview for the club website that was given to this masthead.

“[It’s] certainly not ideal. But football moves quickly, and we’re back into main training today, and trying to really finish off the season really strongly, playing three teams in finals contention.

“Yeah, it’s back on, all hands on deck today.”

Asked about the difficulty of separating his friendship with Goodwin from the big picture of the club’s position, Viney said: “Yeah we all built strong relationships with Goody over the last nine to 11 years, but unfortunately, we’re not sitting where we want to be as a football club, you know the club have to make tough decisions to try get us back into finals contention again.

“So we understand that as a playing group and [are] fully supportive of that.

“Football moves pretty quickly, it can be a brutal industry at times. We just want to get back to finals football. The group’s pretty connected and united and looking forward to finishing off the season strongly ... we’ve got a lot to play for.”

Viney was speaking at a training session on Wednesday.

Troy Chaplin, highly regarded as an assistant (forwards), will be the caretaker senior coach for the final three games when the Demons meet the Dogs, Hawthorn and then Collingwood.

Earlier on Wednesday, Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon said he did not agree with the club’s board that a new coaching voice was required to lead the team back up the ladder.

“I’m not sure I would agree with that, but that’s the board’s decisions,” Langdon said, speaking ahead of his 200th match this weekend, with Goodwin’s departure hanging over the club.

“I can only comment on the players’ relationship with Goody, which was always positive.

“We always respected him and loved him as a coach, so if that’s what the board thinks, then that’s what the board thinks.”

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