MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin isn't thinking about the pressure his side will play under next year after failing to match this season's lofty expectations.
The Demons, one of the pre-season flag fancies after storming into a preliminary final last year, will drop to second-last if Carlton beats Gold Coast on Saturday and they lose to West Coast on Sunday.
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Consistent injuries have ravaged Melbourne, but the issues go beyond just that, with Goodwin's men struggling to translate their contested possession and clearance success into victories.
The Demons have alternated wins and losses in their past four matches. Picture: AFL Photos
There is an industry belief the Dees have escaped serious scrutiny in 2019 because of the under-performance and resultant coaching changes at North Melbourne, Carlton and now St Kilda.
That is unlikely to be the case if the same formline continued at the start of next year, but Goodwin said that was not worth considering now.
"This club's been built on some really strong foundations over four years; we know culturally we're in a good space; (and) our players are looking to continually improve," he told reporters.
"We've had our challenges (and) we're incredibly disappointed with the year, but we've got six weeks to not waste any time.
"Next year will be next year. We'll worry about that at the end of the year. What we can do right now is continue to build the habits, from our players, from our staff, from our environment that will stand up over the test of time, but you can't just wipe a year.
We're incredibly disappointed with the year, but we've got six weeks to not waste any time - Simon Goodwin
"You can't just say, 'That happened for no reason'. It happens for a reason and we're pretty clear about where those reasons are at and what we need to do moving forward.
"But it's been built on strong foundations, culturally we're in a good place and we're going to keep forging ahead, but we'll worry about that next year."
Melbourne unusually made changes to its coaching set-up at the mid-season break, based on the mantra of not wasting any time.
Goodwin was reluctant to discuss how those changes were going – saying it was an "internal" issue – but there was a "happy environment" at the club.
"We want to win every game we play, and I'll keep saying it," he said.
"We're going to pick a team that will go up there (to Alice Springs) and put on a really strong performance as best we can. We've had our challenges but every game's important to it.
"We haven't wasted time, we've made some changes internally, our list is continuing to evolve and we want to play some good footy.
"Results will come on the back of that, but it's about building the habits over time that will stand up long term, so we go into every game wanting to win."
Sam Weideman (calf) will miss at least one more game, but fellow forward Tim Smith (calf) is available to take on the Eagles if selected.
Harry Petty is set to play in attack again after impressing with three goals in last week's loss to the Western Bulldogs.
"We went to Perth with a pretty young side and had a pretty good first three quarters," Goodwin said of the Demons' round nine loss to West Coast.
"We thought we had some dominance in the game, but probably didn't execute on the scoreboard as well as we would have liked. This week is a new challenge."
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