THE TIME for excuses at Melbourne is over.
After a shortened pre-season, including surgeries for 13 players, coach Simon Goodwin has demanded his side be judged solely on its performance against Essendon on Friday night.
As the Demons attempt to turnaround their 0-2 start to the season, Goodwin said it's time to throw out any correlation between the summer campaign and their winless fortnight.
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"What I want to do is put that to bed, as a coach and as a club, there is no more excuses for us as a club," Goodwin said on Thursday.
"Start judging us on our performances and not on our pre-season.
"We're ready to go, we've got a good 22 that's going out there to play, so let's judge us on our performances and stop the excuses."
After last week's 80-point smashing at the hands of Geelong, Goodwin said a bruised confidence could only be restored with an improved showing against the Bombers.
"Confidence is a great word. You can't sprinkle it, you can't get it in a cereal bowl, you've got to earn it," Goodwin said.
"You've actually got to go and do the work, do the performance, do your time, start playing better as a group and a team and start helping each other, that's what builds confidence."
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The Demons provided an insight to selection at training on Thursday morning with Billy Stretch and Corey and Josh Wagner added to the 23-man squad, outside of last week's line-up.
With Steven May reduced to laps as he prepares for a three-week groin injury and draftee Tom Sparrow a no-show, the Demons are expected to make at least two changes.
The session also included a focus on ball movement, with an eye to resurrecting scoring prowess after 72 forward entries last week for just six majors.
After averaging 101 points as the competition's No.1 attacking force last year, the Demons have managed just 61 and 46 points in two games to start the season.
"We need to connect better with our ball use, whether that's from the back half, the middle of the ground and also out kicks inside 50," he said.
"A lot of the time people look at how we actually kick the ball inside 50, sometimes it's the build-up that's the most important bit. 72 entries, we've got to connect better for more than six goals."
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With criticism coming for Christian Petracca's 16-disposal game last week, Goodwin continued to back in his former No.2 draft pick and denied he was anything other than "100 per cent" fit.
"It's pretty simple for Trac. Last week he got beaten fair and square by a good player (Jake Kolodjashnij), but he was in a lot of one-on-one contests," Goodwin said.
"The stuff we've been working on with Christian, if he can keep putting himself in those one-on-one contests and he starts winning his fair share of the ball in those contests, you're going to have a very good player."
Goodwin also confirmed small forward Jeff Garlett would make his return from a shoulder injury in the VFL on Sunday.
