‘Made people laugh’: Goodwin’s snickering admission after ‘extraordinary’ blunders

The skill errors that marred Wednesday night’s Anzac Eve clash between Richmond and Melbourne at the MCG were so comical at times, Demons coach Simon Goodwin admitted they made members of his coaching team laugh.

The AFL average for combined clanger kicks per game is 46, yet by half-time the Demons (22) and Tigers (16) had already brought up 38 between them.

Heading into the match, Melbourne’s average in that stat was 20 for an entire game.

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“It was a pretty scrappy affair,” Goodwin said post-match.

“Some of the turnovers — it was extraordinary to be honest. It made a few people laugh in the box and certainly down on the bench.

“That’s just pretty unlike us in terms of where we were turning the ball over and how easy we were turning it over.”

Goodwin said a chat at half-time about the litany of mistakes was desperately needed. And it seemingly did the trick as the Demons turned the “stressful” situation of a one-point deficit into a 43-point win.

“We had to break the ice a little bit because it was pretty obvious to everyone what was going in the game,” he said.

“So, we spoke about what the method was required and what we were doing well but also just to stay calm. The execution will come, just stay positive, stay optimistic.

“I’ve seen games like that before when you execute with the ball like that where you get beat.

“But our players stayed in the now, they stayed positive, they stayed optimistic, and they worked their way through it.”

An unlikely source was one of the brightest lights in the recovery mission as previously goalless youngster Daniel Turner kicked three majors in his fourth game.

“We put Daniel forward in the VFL and we liked what we saw, and we had a really good discussion about it this week,” Goodwin said.

“For our coaching group it was a brave call to make, and we got our rewards tonight.

“Hopefully we found one there.”

Defender Jake Lever was sensational all night and, with game-high disposals (26) and intercepts (15), as well as 11 contested possessions and 10 marks, played a key role in restricting the Tigers to five goals.

“He’s incredibly important and he’s done it for us for a long time now,” Goodwin said.

“I thought our backline, especially early, they were under enormous pressure. I think it was 15 entries against in the first quarter for one goal for Richmond.

“That’s been a part of our game that’s been really strong — our back six ability to win the ball back in our D50, and Jake Lever was outstanding tonight in that phase.”